What is your heart's desire? Do you ever think about it? Does it usually revolve around things of this world ... or relationships with people of this world? In these few verses, we get a glimpse into the very heart's desire of Paul. Nothing else is as important to him. Everything else can go except for this one thing.
I want to know Christ ...
"The word Paul chooses for "know" is part of the verb ginoskein and that word almost always indicates personal knowledge. It is not simply intellectual knowledge; it is not the knowledge of certain facts or theories or even principles. It is the personal experience of another person." (William Barclay)Consider - in the Old Testament, when we are told that "Adam knew Eve and she conceived and bare Cain", we see that the word "know" is used to refer to sexual intimacy between a man and his wife. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, this word ginoskein is used. Paul uses the same word in the cry of his heart. He longs for the most intimate, personal, experiential relationship with God. And everything else he willingly releases for that kind of "knowing".
Today ... write verses 10 - 11 on a card for yourself and carry it around with you all day. Let it be your reminder ... I pray that the very words will be transformative in each of our lives ... that we will deepen our own longing for such knowledge of God.
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