“So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News. God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus. I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.”
If you are not working in full-time ministry, you may not realize the heart behind that kind of work. As a counselor, I am sure that my clients cannot understand how much I truly care about them. Hopefully they can see clearly from my demeanor that I accept them and want to help them. But there is a depth that is very real and very personal that they probably can’t imagine. Many of them may not feel that they are worth loving.
When Paul talks about having a special place in his heart for the Philippians, I get that. He wants deeply spiritual things for them — he wants them to know God’s love, to love each other, to get the mission so deeply that their lives are 100% different. He sees a potential in them that I see for my clients. He sees the fullness of who they can become when they go deep with God.
You will never arrive at freedom. There is always more of it. That’s one way you can tell it is from God’s kingdom — in his kingdom the resources are endless and they grow as you use them. When you give love, you somehow have more of it than you did before. When I walk in freedom and let others around me be free, I am even more free. Bank accounts don’t work like that. Paul had this heart for freedom for the Philippian church. Do you have that vision for yourself and for those around you?