Many of you know that one of my favorite passages in the Bible is 2 Corinthians 5. I absolutely love that chapter! I hope someday I am given the opportunity to preach a series on that passage. The passage has been a “heart” passage for me. Different parts of Scripture speak to us in different ways! And while all Scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching, I think that for each of us there are different passages that really “grab” us.
In 2 Cor. 5:14 Paul writes, “Christ’s love compels us”. I want that! I want to be able to say that Christ’s love is the source or the motivator behind everything I do!
The American Heritage Dictionary defines compel this way:
1. To force, drive, or constrain: Duty compelled the soldiers to volunteer for the mission.
2. To necessitate or pressure by force; exact: An energy crisis compels fuel conservation
3. To exert a strong, irresistible force on; sway: “The land, in a certain, very real way, compels the minds of the people”.
Some people may have a hard time with the word “force” in these definitions. I don’t think we need to get hung up on that word. Maybe a better word would be motivated or moved. Imagine allowing Christ’s love to rule our hearts or to be such a strong part of our lives that it was the driving motivation behind everything we did, every decision we made.
The problem is that there are so many other “compelling” voices that we allow to speak into our hearts and our lives. Fear, the opinions and judgments of others, past sins, our environment, and the list goes on and on. For whatever reason we give these voices more value than they deserve. If we were able to recognize the love of God, the love of Christ for what it really is, then all these other voices would shrivel and be silenced.
Clearly, I recognize that this is easier said than accepted! My point isn’t to condemn you or me for failing to recognize this, but encouraging us to do so! I don’t know what you are struggling with today, but I want to ask, “What is it that compels you in that struggle”? What compels you in your relationships, in your school work, in your social time, in your worries, in your joys?
My prayer is that each of us is able to recognize and accept the abundance of God’s love to such an extent that it would compel the way we view ourselves, the way we view others, the decisions we make and our actions!
2 comments:
For me personally it amazes me how hard it can be to accept god's love. I have no problem seeing it in my life and past situations, but for some reason its always been hard for me to see it in the present. I guess its easy to trick yourself to think god doesn't care or isn't there currently. I think this is my biggest problem with this. How do you let it compel you if you struggling with it in the present. I don't think it will ever become easy to accept that god loves you and is always with you in the present. If that were true then i suppose you would never have any suffering.
So that leaves the only possible solution is to trust that he is there and loves you. This has to be one of the hardest things ever. I realize church beats that into you, but it is pretty foreign to normal human life to not be let down. I think the longer you live life the more you get use to and accept the fact that everything/body will eventually let you down. This makes it pretty hard to accept the fact that there is an unfailing love for us out there.
Alright that probably didn't make just tons of since, but for me atlest that is why i have trouble giving my compleate attention to christ's love in my life so it can compel me. To sum it up, too busy struggling with the fear of it letting me down to give it compleate attention.
Well said! Accepting God's love is much easier said than done! It seems freedom allows us to accept love, and as we accept love we are free. On the other hand, a lack of love causes fear, and fear prevents us from accepting love. So how do you break one cycle to get into the other?
There is a great book I am reading right now called How People Grow by Cloud and Townsend. In the book they make the point that too many churches teach that grace=forgiveness. While forgiveness is a part of grace, it is only a part. Forgiveness frees us from the past. Grace covers the past, present and future. A great book, that I would highly recommend!!
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