Burning Hearts

For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:8

When it came to the church, the apostle Paul was a passionate man. Originally, his passion came from a place of hate, then he met Jesus, and by the power of the Spirit his hatred was transformed into love. We see this love in every letter that he writes; the yearning that he has for Jew and Gentile alike, that they would grow in their faith.

Do we love our own community of believers in this way? Do we spend time praying for an increase in knowledge, discernment and righteousness within our fellow Christians, and that love may abound more and more (v9)? The Bible instructs us to encourage one another, to bear one another’s burdens, and to forgive one another – but we cannot do any of that if we do not first love one another. Paul ‘yearned’ for the saints of God, a yearning that came from the Lord himself. Paul’s desire was to reach as many as he could with the gospel of Christ. His longing was that everyone would encounter Jesus. Then, from the deepest parts of his soul, he yearned – his heart ached – with the affection of Christ Jesus that the church would grow and develop deep roots of an evident faith.

When we truly love one another, we will want to see every person in our fellowship grow and develop in the things of God, producing a deep, strong faith. That can only begin from our love for Jesus.

They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” Luke 24:32

If our hearts don’t burn for Jesus, how can we expect them to burn for one another? If our hearts don’t burn for one another, how will they burn for those who are not yet saved?

Father, make my heart burn with a yearning for you and for others, so that I would love with the affection of Christ Jesus. Amen.