¹ Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

What turns your heart with joy? What is your passion? What do you long for at the deepest levels of your being? For Paul, his heart beat with God’s, as he wrote, “the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved” (NLT). This drove Paul from the very beginning.

How ironic that God would then assign him to primarily focus on the Gentile world. The first message to Paul in Damascus after his conversion experience was through Ananias, on the Straight Street, “But the Lord said to him [Ananias], ‘Go, for he [Saul, a.k.a. Paul] is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake’” (Acts 9:15–16). Paul himself acknowledged this, as did the rest of the apostles in Jerusalem:

“… seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised (for He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles), and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.” (Gal 2:7–9)

Yet Paul couldn’t shake the desires of his heart (see Psalm 37:4) and thus did have some fruit among the Jews. In fact, early in his mission tours, he would enter a city and first go to the Jewish synagogue to preach the Gospel (if there was one there). For example, on his first tour, on his first stop in Salamis, “they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews …” (Acts 13:5, see also Acts 13:14, 43; 14:1; 17:1, 10; 18:4, etc.). And we have already seen in Romans 9:1-3 the depth of his desire for the salvation of the Jews.

So Paul’s teaching about God showing grace to the Gentiles while the Jews rejected His mercy is not meant to disparage his fellow Jews. It comes from a deep desire for their salvation.

What can we learn from this? Following Paul’s example as he has followed the Lord’s example (1 Cor 11:1), we should nurture our hearts with God’s desire for the lost. If He is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9) then I should be willing to reach out to my family, associates and neighbors.

Change my heart, O God, to be like Yours. Give me a love for the lost.