Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Compelled By Love

2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-15 – For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

THEME OF THE DAY: COMPELLED BY LOVE. The great missionary Hudson Taylor was interviewing potential candidates for the mission field. He asked each one, “What motivates you for wanting to serve the Lord in a faraway land?” One answered, “Those people need to hear the Gospel.” Another candidate replied, “We are commanded to go.” Still a third replied, “Someone has to go.” Then silence came. Hudson Taylor replied to all as a group, “Your reasons are all good and noble. However, none of them will sustain you when the work gets hard. None of them will keep you on the field. There is only one thing that will sustain and keep you in the labor. It is the love of Christ.”

The point Hudson Taylor makes is not our love for the Lord is to be the energizing force in our labor for the Lord. If it was, we wouldn’t last very long because our love is often cold and inconsistent. The true source of any consistent and sacrificial labor for the Lord is a life under the control of Christ’s love.

What would characterize such a life? A couple of things taken from today’s scripture…

First, a life under the control of Christ’s love thinks often of the Gospel. Notice what the Apostle Paul gives as a reason for this control – because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and He died for all. He is describing the Gospel. The more we meditate and saturate our hearts and minds with the Gospel, the more we will experience the love of Christ which leads to living under its control.

A second truth defining a life lived under the control of Christ’s love is the determination to live for the sake of others – therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. The gospel does this. It creates selfless and self-denying people.

So when it comes down to the “bottom line” of living the Christian life under the control of His love, the evidence is three-fold; how much we think of Christ, how much we serve His people, and how little we think of and serve ourselves.

May the Lord help us to both know His love and to live under the glorious power of His love!

PRAYER: “Father, compel me by the love of Your Son to share the love of Your Son in His Gospel.”
QUOTE: “Love is the sustaining force to share the Gospel because it creates love for those who need the Gospel.”

Because of Him,
Pastor Jim