1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment

It is not easy to figure out what Paul is saying here in v.9 in terms of the relationship between the love in the first half of the verse and the knowledge and discernment in the second half. Bible scholars far more skilled and knowledgeable than I debate the issue. But whatever the right answer is to that question, it is clear that Paul is wanting the Philippians to grow both in love and in knowledge. We often hear Christians citing 1Cor.8:1 ("Knowledge puffs up, love builds up"), contrasting love and knowledge. And yet here in Phil.1:9 Paul is promoting both love AND knowledge. It is important for God’s people to realize that though there are dangers with knowledge there are also great dangers without knowledge. Knowledge without love is perilous and love without knowledge is perilous. Though church history may contain plenty of examples of Christians who turned knowledge into pride and divisiveness, it is also filled with examples of Christians who were led into heresy and/or immorality because of a lack of knowledge. This verse - and many others - make it clear that God wants us to have both knowledge and love. Knowledge is good, as long as it doesn’t detract from love. God wants us to love Him with all our minds , as well as with all our hearts. Jesus is our example of a man who had more knowledge and more love than anyone else ever had. There was certainly no conflict between love and knowledge in Him.

Dear Father, I pray that You would establish me firmly in the knowledge of Your Son Jesus Christ. Help me not to be mentally lazy, but to love You with my whole mind. Help me to really study Your word, and not just let someone else prepare all my spiritual food for me. Help me to read good books that increase my knowledge of the things of Christ. Help me to listen carefully when I hear Your word preached or taught. Help me not to ask to be entertained in order to pay attention to Your truth. Help me to so love Your truth that merely hearing Your word read is a delight to me. Forgive me for all the times I have quit some spiritually beneficial task or neglected an important discipline just because it was mentally rigorous. And yet on the other hand, Lord, do not let me be puffed up by knowledge. Help me not to elevate myself because I think I know more than someone else. Give me a humble mind, Lord, a mind that grows in the knowledge of how little it knows. By the power of Your Holy Spirit, fill me with the mind of Christ, that I may think the way He thinks, and also love the way He loves.