Scripture
For the love of Christ constraineth us.
~2 Corinthians 5:14, ASV
Quote
We know the love of Christ controls us when we take everything that happens as happening to HIM, whether it be praise, blame, persecution or commendation.
~Oswald Chambers {My Utmost, February 4}
Chambers daily devotion for February 4 caused me to wonder and ponder. The Greek word translated constrain in the AV and ASV is synecho and it means hold together with constraint or to compress. Chamber compares it to a vice. He also says, “very few of us know what it means to be held in the grip of His love.” I agree and I readily admit, I am not among the few. June and I are watching 1883 on vid-angel and my favorite character is the black man. I am drawn to his humility and kindness. How could anyone not love this strong, generous, kind and humble man. Yes, the first thing I noticed on the first episode was that he was black and the first thing that popped into my mind was–“There were no black men on the Oregon Trail is 1883.” I confess, I am prejudice but it is not limited to racial ethnicity. There are other people groups that I am hard on. I can beat myself up over the fact that I don’t love people the way Jesus does but the truth is–I never will. If you make loving people the way Jesus did your goal, you are going to come up short.
To be in the grip of HIS love is a grace thing from A to Z. Our puny love will never catch up to the LOVE of Jesus. We will never reach a point in our sanctification where our love constrains us to love the way Jesus loved. No, no, no, we are missing the point–we are constrained by HIS love, not ours. Paul made this clear…THE LOVE OF CHRIST CONSTRAINS ME. I can make loving Him more a goal if I choose and it certainly seems to be a need but I can pray and beg as much as I want, but I will never love the way He loves. No human love can ever equal His love. His love is divine, supernatural, unconditional, unfailing and totally unmerited. If His love was an ocean, it would be too deep to fathom. If His love was stacked end on end, we could never find the top. It is His love that controls us, compels us, drives us and motivates us. I don’t preach my love for people; that kind of preaching will produce nothing. When I go visiting, I don’t tell people, “I am here today because I love you.” I try to make it clear, “I am here as an emissary of His love.” I don’t witness to anyone because I love them, I do it because He loves them. I am very confident about His love but I cannot say the same for mine. Paul said in Romans 5:5, This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. So we don’t actually need to pray for love, God has already put it in hearts: what we need to do is stop hindering the Holy Spirit. This will be my prayer today: “Lord help me not hinder the Holy Spirit so that the incredible love of Christ that you put in me can break out.”
Extra
An evangelism team was visiting the home of a man who in his younger years, had done the same thing {visited and shared his faith}. Matter of fact, He and I passed out gospel tracts at the boat harbor in Decatur during the 70’s. A painful divorce hurt him deeply and he had not gone to church in years. I prayed with him back in the day and he and I witnessed to a lot of people. I saw him preach in the lobby of a restaurant and it was not forced. He was definitely under the control of the Holy Spirit. This visitation team came in and they made the mistake of being gushy and they told him, “they loved him.” They didn’t say anything about Jesus loving him. When they told him they loved him, he went off…He said, “You don’t love me, you don’t even know me.” He said a lot more and put that team to flight and they didn’t come back which was proof of his point. He shared all this with me shortly before he departed this world. I listened to him and left his hospital room saying to myself, “He is right. We should never reveal our insincerity by saying something we cannot back up.” Reminds me of the old boy who was trying to console a friend who had lost a loved one. Before leaving the funeral home parlor, he told his friend, “If there is anything we can do, let us know; and I do mean anything.” His friend seized the moment and said in response, “I could use $1,000 in cash.” His friend swallowed hard and said, “Anything but that!” I have used this line a couple of times since. I guarantee you: it will make people think before they express an insincere love.
Another great weekend: God is good. I hope you have a great day and week.