Tuesday, March 10, 2009
My Heart’s Desire
(Romans 10:1-13)
If you could have anything in all the world, what would it be? Put another way, what is the chief desire of your heart? Jesus taught us that the answer to that question may be discerned by the location of our treasure. More specifically, He taught that treasures saved up on earth are fleeting and treasures stored in heaven are eternal. Therefore, the emphasis of our lives, whether temporal or eternal, will be revealed in eternity—based upon the location of our treasure (Mt. 6:19-24 and I Cor. 3:10-15)
Paul’s “heart’s desire” is recorded in Scripture: “…my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.” Simply stated, the all-consuming passion of the Apostle Paul was the salvation of souls—with a special burden for his people, the Jews. In fact, Romans 9:1-5 details Paul’s emotional distress over the lost condition of his “kinsman according to the flesh,” the Jewish people. He goes so far as to wish himself “accursed” (literally, “damned”) if that would result in Israel’s turning to Christ. Now, that’s a burden for souls!
It goes without saying that Paul’s burden manifested a selflessness rarely known today. Putting personal ambition, dreams, and prosperity aside; Paul focused on one goal: The salvation of souls. He was willing to give all—down to his eternal soul—because of his burden. This being the case, couldn’t we at least give out a Gospel tract today? Think about it.
