Hearts That Hug (Part One)

The Apostle Paul was an amazingly loving sort of guy. He wasn’t always that way. His early life, as a deeply religious but misguided man, had been spent ruthlessly running over people in the pursuit of his own selfish ambitions. Paul ruined and destroyed the lives of countless men, women and children for what he was sure was right, what he thought he was supposed to do, and how he thought others should live. Then Christ got hold of Paul’s life and all that changed. He went from being a self-focused “I want my way” bully to one of the most kindhearted loving men to ever follow Jesus. In fact, he once wrote: “No matter what I say, what I believe, or what I do, I’m bankrupt without love” (I Corinthians 13:3, MSG). Here in Philippians 2:1-4, Paul teaches us how to be amazingly loving … how to develop hearts that hug everyone in our church, our homes, and in our community. Believers with a heart like this are the ones that God will fill with His joy and then use to change the world with His Gospel.