May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 NIV
Increasing and Abounding in Love
According to the various projection scenarios, the Canadian population, estimated at 41.7 million in 2025, would continue to increase over the next decades to between 44.0 million and 75.8 million by 2075. Under a medium-growth scenario, the Canadian population would reach 57.4 million in 2075. In all scenarios, migratory increase would be the main driver of population growth at the national level, continuing a pattern that began in the early 1990s. Average annual growth rates would vary considerably among the provinces and territories.
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As followers of Christ, we need to pray for each other. Not only for the kind of things we usually pray about – health, family, finances. In 1 Thessalonians, the apostle Paul expresses his desire to be with his Christian friends in Thessalonica, but in the meantime, he prays for them. Listen to what he prays in 1 Thessalonians 3:12: “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.” Paul is reminding us that our love for one another, love that ought to mark the life of every follower of Jesus, cannot be manufactured through our own efforts. Left to ourselves, love shrinks. It becomes selective and cautious. But when the Lord is at work, love expands and becomes generous, resilient, and bold. Today, ask the Lord to increase your love for others – even for those who are not easy to love. Pray not just to love more, but to love beyond. When Christ’s love overflows in us, it becomes one of the clearest witnesses of His presence in our lives—and the world notices.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley