The love of Christ constrains us

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; - 2 Corinthians 5v14

What compels us to serve the Lord and live godly lives? This is something of a wake up call. There is a list of things that might pressure us to serve Him. It might be the pay cheque if we are in the vocational ministry. It might be peer pressure. It might be some type of high pressure motivational speech. It might be some type of pressure to perform from inside ourselves. It might be a human desire to succeed. Maybe we want to impress someone. For missionaries with foreign support it might be fear of loss of support. There are all kinds of possible reasons.

Paul says that the love of Christ should be the one thing that compels and motivates us. This is one of those cases where the good old traditional AV translation really nails it – “The love of Christ constrains us.” That is an amazing little word, even in English. It speaks of pressure, constraint, and even binding. When my sister was a baby her feet were slightly turned in. The doctors did not design a fancy brace to correct them. They told my parents to buy a good, sturdy set of baby shoes and attach them to a board with the shoes facing in opposite direction. Wearing this device constrained, compelled, and pressure my sister’s feet to turn outwards and solve the problem. Her feet were bound to the will of that simple little brace.

If nothing constrains is to serve the Lord we will fail in an instant. If we are constrained by our own selves or other men we may last a bit longer, but eventually we will break down. But if we are truly bound by our Saviour’s marvellous love we can keep on serving and keep on going for Him. If we can ever truly grasp His love, we will always be compelled to move onward.