The Feelings Of Jesus

The Feelings of Jesus

God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:8

PHILIPPIANS IS AN EMOTIONAL LETTER, and Paul was not shy about expressing what he felt. In some letters, he expressed anger and frustration, but this one is full of joy. And not just any joy but the joy that comes from confidence in who God is and what he is doing, even when we don’t know exactly what that is. The only way to get that kind of joy is through fellowship with the Holy Spirit, who lives within every believer and shares with us the emotions of God. As we are being conformed to God in our minds and wills, we ought also to be conforming to his feelings about everything—people, sin, his plans for the world, and more. Then we begin to sense a love and compassion coming from beyond ourselves.

That’s how Paul expressed his affection for the Philippian believers. He longed for and loved them “with the tender compassion of Christ.” He was motivated by the perspective and feelings of the Spirit of Christ within him, thoroughly feeling the love and joy as his own, but also knowing it was in sync with the love and joy of God. His heart had merged with the Lord’s, and he expressed his/their feelings openly and often.

The more we grow in intimacy with the Lord, the less we are able to distinguish between his heart and ours. That’s how it is in any loving relationship; as our lives merge with someone else’s, we often take on their desires and feelings, and they take on ours. It’s hard to know where we begin and the other ends, and vice versa. In our relationship with Jesus, we begin to think as he thinks, feel as he feels, long for the things he longs for, and have the same motivations, compassions, angers, jealousies, joys, and more. His heart and our hearts beat as one. That’s a remarkably fruitful condition for praying for his will—and ours (though we can hardly tell the difference)—to be done.

When men are animated by the love of Christ they feel united, and the needs, sufferings, and joys of others are felt as their own.