I Have You in My Heart

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.  God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:7-9).

We can know that Saul the Pharisee did not receive training in the rabbinic school to say,  “I have you in my heart” or “I long for you with the affection of Christ Jesus.”  To the contrary, he would have been taught rabbinic logic.  He would have learned how to tackle issues of the law, not how to hug and cry with people and cause them to feel loved.

This man was profoundly changed on his way to Damascus that day (Acts 9).  During three days of intensive prayer and evaluation, his Pharisaic crust had broken.  His independence had melted as he received his sight again through the touch of another person–one of the Christians he had come to arrest.  He recognized and embraced the true Lord of his life.  Then, what else could a strong-willed, highly motivated person do except give everything he had to spread the truth he had found?

The Philippian disciples were profoundly impacted by Paul’s change.  From the first day, he had them in his heart, and that had changed their lives.  A well-to-do business woman, servants and slaves from her household, a tough Roman jailer and his wife and believing children formed part of the nucleus of the church–people very different from each other.  They were people who felt loved by God and by Paul—and they were learning to love each other, to have each other in their hearts.