Tom writes:

Despite all the pain, misunderstanding and rejection Paul received, he still opened his heart wide. This is highly unusual. Having sought to pastor people for over 20 years I find one of the hardest things is getting people to open wide their hearts to others. Whether it is through fear, pain, cynicism or busyness, the “open hearted” believer is a rare one indeed. How wide open is your heart to others? This isn’t about having a few good friends or attending certain events. Wide open hearts spend time trying to work out how to put no stumbling blocks in others ways. Wide open hearts speak freely to others out of a deep desire to make them rich in God. Wide open hearts take risks to love others even if the “others” might hurt them quite badly. Wide open hearts are the manifestation of the Spirit making us like Jesus. It was Paul’s wide-open heart that facilitated the growth of all the churches all across the Mediterranean.

So how did Paul do it? How could he look at a prancing Corinthian who had stabbed him in the back and still choose to open wide his heart to him? As with everything in Paul, it springs out of his calling. For Paul, opening wide his heart is an act of obedience. If he doesn’t do it his ministry will be discredited. If he doesn’t open wide his heart to the church he denies that now is the time of God’s favour. In theological language, Paul’s missiology overflowed from his ecclesiology which overflowed from his eschatology. Like with a pyramid of champagne glasses the present experience of abundant grace caused Paul to see that God’s future creation was cascading into history, and this present-world grace was now cascading into the church, making it a colony of God’s new creation. And this understanding meant Paul’s glass overflowed with a wide open heart spilling grace into glass upon glass of Corinthians and Ephesians and Galatians and the like. Paul could love people because the whole resources of New Creation were being poured into him from above. Paul knew he was a temple of the living God, resourced by God, living under the favour of God. And so Paul could draw on God’s massive treasure-trove to resource his actions of love in every environment, no matter how adverse. So let’s ask Holy Spirit to open wide our hearts to all the favour of God, and then to open wide our hearts to others that we might pour into them some of God’s favour that is flowing into us.

Question for reflection

What would it look like for you today to open wide your heart to others so that you can pour some of God’s favour into them?

2 Corinthians 6 - Friday 14th June