2nd Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;
A few weeks ago I taught through chapter 5 of 2nd Corinthians and the fourteenth verse has stuck with me. Where it talks about how “the love of Christ compels us“.
There is something mysterious and wonderful about the compelling of the Holy Spirit.
Have you sensed the Lords hand drawing you to respond to His compelling, His will?
His compelling is not like a command that we want to resist and are made to obey, but if we truly love Him, His call on our hearts is captivating and we can’t seem to ignore His wooing.
Do I dare even to describe the compelling of the Lord as alluring? For years He pursued us and we tried our best to evade Him. Now we willingly belong to Him and we are glad He didn’t give up pursing us. We are a new creation in Christ Jesus, having a new nature, and part of that new nature is a deep desire to pursue God; oh how the tables have been turned. We who are believers can’t seem to get enough of Him. We think we have Him figured out and then He reveals to us how there is still so much more to discover about His mercy, and His love.
We are not compelled like a moth being drawn to a flame, nor are we drawn by an empty force, or a natural instinct. And neither is it like gravity which indiscriminately pulls all the same, but I believe we are uniquely compelled by our great and loving God throughout our new Christian life. For some, His compelling is subtle, for some of His compelling can be life changing, awe inspiring and even unsettling. I think the apostle Paul’s life reflected all of these characteristics.
The Christian song writer Rich Mullins wrote a song called the “The Love of God” and it speaks how God plants deep within us an aching and yearning for His love.
“There’s a wideness in God’s mercy I cannot find in my own
And He keeps His fire burning
To melt this heart of stone
Keeps me aching with a yearning
Keeps me glad to have been caught
In the reckless raging fury
That they call the love of God”
In plain language, the apostle Paul said that he was overpowered, subdued, and held as in a vise by “the love of Christ.” Paul loved and trusted the strong hand of God. When we who love Christ are compelled by the Holy Spirit, it is like be held in the mighty grip of the love of God.
What does that look like in the Christian walk?
Oswald Chambers wrote “We tend so often to be controlled simply by our own experience. The one thing that gripped and held Paul, to the exclusion of everything else, was the love of God. “The love of Christ compels us! When you hear that coming from the life of a man or woman it is unmistakable. You will know that the Spirit of God is completely unhindered in that person’s life.”
What a great word, “unhindered”!
I want to be unhindered, I want to address those ties that hold me down. I want to break free from the gravity of my fears and leap into the arms of God’s compelling love.
My prayer for the whole church.
Let us all cut those bindings that cause us to resist the compelling of the Lord. Let us be daring and throw caution to wind, running, leaping into that fierce fiery whirlwind, the reckless raging fury they call the Love of God.
May God’s blessings overflow in your life and fill your hearts with His grace,
Pastor Michael
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