(4) Strength in Suffering Series
For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.” – Philippians 1:8
Paul says God is his witness when it comes to the love he feels for the souls of the Christians in Philippi. The word “affection” here is also translated “bowels,” which in Paul’s time was the way of saying the central place where we feel intense emotions. This is the place we feel overflowing affection and tender mercy. This feeling of intense emotion and love for someone originates with Jesus. He is the one who shows us what it means to love deeply and feel compassionately. When you consider how God views you, do you picture Him reaching out in tender love to you? Do you embrace the idea of His compassion poured out on you when you are suffering?
God is your loving witness. He sees everything that happens to you, everything you are going through, and He feels all of it intensely, the small and the great. He loves you deeply and doesn’t want you to hurt. He wants you to be happy, but the happiness we think we want in this world is fleeting and unproductive. Solomon says it’s useless to go after pleasures here, and that true joy is found in serving God. He says that is man’s all (Ecclesiastes 12). Living for God is where we find our deepest gratification. God wants us to feel the pleasure of a life well lived in faith, which brings emotions more intensely joyous than for Him to take all the problems and trials away this instant.
When Paul says he “longs” for his Christian brothers and sisters, it’s a feeling he has that comes from love. We don’t think of longing as a good thing, but it is. Longing hurts, but it makes the wait that much sweeter. When we long for Heaven in this life, we know there is fulfillment and completion of that longing in eternity. We long to be whole, not broken. We long to be at peace, not in turmoil. We long to be closer, not alone and isolated. We long to be loved.
We know God loves us, else His Only Son would never have been tortured and killed to bring us back into His presence, back into relationship with Him. Christians who accept God’s gift of salvation may not know how to fully accept His love. Accepting His love means to let Him be your witness. When you are surrounded in fiery trial, stop. Stop and take the time to go to Him. He knows every emotion and distress you deal with. Unless you talk to Him about it, you can’t acknowledge that He is jointly suffering with you. In that distressing time it is not only important to talk to Him, but to let Him talk to you. When you are facing hardship and you go to His word, details will make themselves known to you that you wouldn’t see if you weren’t going through that situation. This, too, is how God shows you His love.
Another way to let God be your witness is to see His communication to you through the words and acts of the people of God who come to you when you are suffering. When someone dear holds your hand and tells you they are so, so sorry the storm is happening to you, do you ever consider that God is talking through them? He can bring the physical touch you need and the words of comfort through others. He will work through others to strengthen you and give you peace.
Once you learn to accept love from God, it is easier to accept love from your Christian brothers and sisters—because their love is a form of God’s love. Learning to accept God’s love through others can change a Christian’s perspective about her own ability to give her love in times when someone is suffering. God’s love works through His people, and this means He can work through you. When you approach a suffering sister, your personal experience isn’t the focus. Witnessing another’s intensity of emotion has nothing to do with offering advice. When God is witness, He sits with you and knows what you are feeling. That is what you need, isn’t it? Express God’s comfort to your sister in the same ways He expresses comfort to you. That is what your sister needs, too. That’s not to say any of us fully understands what another is going through like God does, nor can you love the way God loves, but it does mean letting go of the weight of second-guessing what you’re “supposed to” say or do. Just let God be witness as you love your sister and pray to Him to help her in her suffering.
In the next verses, Paul introduces the effort it takes to love. We will study that next.