In Parker and Hart's "The Wizard of Id" comic strip, one monk is putting up a sign on the bulletin board in front of the church while another monk watches. The sign reads "Thou Shalt Not Covet" and the visiting monk says, "Boy, I wish we had a signboard like that at our church."

What do you want more than anything? What do you daydream about? If you could have anything you wanted, what would it be? Money? Fame? Health? What is your true heart's desire?

In Romans 10:1 Paul tells us his concerning the Jewish people, "Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation." It was the salvation and spiritual welfare of others that consumed and drove Paul. Paul was willing to adapt to any extent within the will of God to relate to others and reach them with the gospel. He wrote, “To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings,” (1 Corinthians 9:20-23). After he has listed the many things he has suffered for the sake of Christ he adds, “And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?” (2 Corinthians 11:28-29). You get the idea that for Paul, the salvation and spiritual welfare of others was no peripheral issue. He lived, breathed, ate and slept winning souls to Jesus and encouraging them to cling to the Christ. His motive was not because he wanted to build bigger numbers to justify building bigger buildings. He was not putting notches in his Bible to boast of those who had been converted. There were no thoughts of being invited to speak at the lectureships and seminars to share his methods of evangelism from his latest best seller. Paul's heart-felt desire issued from what he knew to be true. Paul knew that there is one God to whom all are accountable (2 Corinthians 5:10). Paul knew that only through Jesus Christ might one come to that God (John 14:6). Paul knew that "a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge" could not save (Romans 10:2,3). Paul knew that the gospel was the power of God to salvation (Romans 1:16) and that only those who trust and obey would be saved (Mark 16:16; Acts 22:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:8). Paul summed up his motive in these words, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised,” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

If you are not a Christian, may you not only fulfill Paul's desire, but God's desire for you (1 Timothy 2:4). May those of us who are Christians have as our heart's desire for the lost to be saved and to submit ourselves to God using us toward that end.

God bless you,

Brad Fry