Opposite of 'to get and get'

Just like people swear, “As God is my witness,” Paul pleads in Philippians 1:8, “For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.”

“That verse has always struck me that Paul would have to tell them that; he’d actually have to call God to record that he loved them!,” says Jordan. “There’s something in Paul’s psyche that wasn’t naturally gregarious or expressing of that, I suppose. It isn’t personality bound. That’s the point.

“Paul says in Philippians 2, ‘If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.’

“ ‘Bowels and mercies.’ People say, ‘What’s that?’ Paul’s already told you in Philippians 1:8. Obviously he’s using a figure of speech or a metaphor.

“You can easily find another place it’s used that will explain it to you. The bowels of something is the innermost recesses. Bowels of the cave; bowels of a ship.

“Isaiah 16:11 says, ‘Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.’ He’s talking about, ‘I’m going to have some groaning way down in the depths of my inner man; my inward parts,’ and he’s not just talking about his physical anatomy; he’s talking about his soul.

“I John 3:17 is another place that helps you. ‘But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?’

“He’s talking about the innermost part of a person’s soul. The inward part. By the way, the issue about the bowels of compassion—that’s where compassion comes from.

“If there’s something that can go right down into the depths of your soul where life really comes from . . . is there any of that? It’s all in Christ. Now he says, ‘If all this identity and these things you have in Christ are true, here’s the mindset it’s going to produce.’

“Paul continues in Philippians 2, ‘Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

[4] Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

[5] Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.’

“ ‘In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves’—that’s the whole key!

“By the way, verse 4 is a great verse to remind you you have to be careful when you read the Bible. If you take that verse out of its context, and take it literally, you can see how that verse will get you into trouble!

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“If you wanted a title for Philippians you could put down Philippians 3:14 (‘I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’) and you’ve got it because that’s what the book is about.

“It’s about pressing toward that identity God has given us in Christ ‘for the prize of the high-calling.’ What’s the prize? ‘Christ in you the hope of glory.’ Having His life be your life! So it’s a wonderful epistle dealing with that.

“When Paul comes to the end of the discussion, focusing on the issue of contentment, that’s the goal for which all of the things in Philippians are bringing you. It’s an emotional stability; it’s that deep inner peace, that sense of the supernatural sufficiency of who you are in Christ.

“It’s not just a bunch of doctrine--we’re talking about the life that I live. The attitudes that I have, the relationships, my marriage, my home, my children, my job, my recreation life . . . In all of my relationships, in all of my emotions.

“It’s that stability to live in all of that with an understanding of our dependence of Him being our LIFE. Being enough. Being the treasure. Being,‘For to me to live is Christ,’ and to die is just to bring that into ultimate reality.

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“The Philippians developed personal compassion. They put the needs of others above the wants of themselves. They developed a generous spirit, because when you begin to release the very thing that consumes you (money, in this case)--when you let it go, you develop the ability to give. That destroys the compulsion to get because it’s the OPPOSITE of it.

“That happens when you do what verses 17-18’s talking about: [17] Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
[18] (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.’

“You develop an eternal perspective, coming to the place where you realize your spiritual and financial decisions are literally joined at the hip.

"You realize that EVERY decision you make about (material) things, relationships, money and emotions—all of those decisions are really spiritual decisions that have an eternal impact. They can either bring honor and praise to God or destroy your testimony.

“You see, our treasure—the thing we invest our talents, time and money to—reveals and directs our heart. You remember Jesus said that? ‘Where a man’s treasure is there will his heart be also.’ Now that’s a principle anywhere in the Bible.

“I learned a secret about that years ago. If there was an area in my life that I noticed needed attention . . .  Maybe it was a neglected area.

"I learned that if I would take that area of my life and just begin to focus some of my time and my treasure toward it—start spending some money toward it. Maybe it’s your wife. Whatever it is, you know what? Your heart will follow. Because your treasure directs your heart. It’s that powerful a thing!

“We unconsciously tell God what standard of living we’re willing to live at, what standard of relationships we’re willing to have, what standard of emotional life we’re willing to put up with, what standard of money we’re willing to accept. And then we impose that on this verse 19: ‘Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.’ ”