2 Corinthians 5:14 "Compelled, Constrained & Controlled"

2 Corinthians 5:14
For the love of Christ *compels us...
*(controls, constrains, guides)

What the Greek word translated into English as "controls" literally means is to hem in or create boundaries. So what Paul says is the motivating factor in his own life and ministry, and what should be the motivating factor in our lives is the love of Christ –the love of Christ places boundaries in our lives that channel our efforts and energies into a specific direction. If we take away the boundaries, we begin to drift –to lose focus –to lose direction. 

A good illustration of this is the Yangtze River in China. This river has two distinct phases. It starts in the mountains, and then it moves across the wide open plains. In the mountains, this river is narrow and deep as it cuts through gorges and ravines. In this phase the river is incredibly powerful and fast. Later on in plains, the river spreads out over several miles wide and is so slow moving that it has almost no current. The difference is that up in the mountains it has the rocks and ravines that hem it in and create boundaries. All that water is channeled through a narrow pass, making it powerful. Later on, where there are no boundaries, where it can go anywhere at all, it spreads out into a shallow, sluggish river.

Paul says that his life has some boundaries placed on it that help him to focus his time and energy and efforts into the places where they are the most productive. Paul suggests, then, that we need similar boundaries in our lives so that we can be productive. The boundaries in Paul’s life are put in place by the realization of Christ’s love.

When we grasp the truth and the implications of Christ’s love, we are compelled to respond. When Christ’s love compels us, we can no longer sit back and be casual, uncaring Christians. When we begin to grasp how incredibly much God loves us, we can no longer just "kind of" believe –we can no longer acknowledge God in our heads without worshiping Him in our hearts.

The spiritually trendy thing to do today is the "spiritual buffet” approach to life.  People like to look at all the different religions as if in a restaurant looking over the menu.  We want to pick and choose –I’ll have a little of this one, and a smidgeon of that –and I’ll take a nice size portion of the things I like, and skip the things I don’t.

And that approach to God is a very good approach –that’s a very nice, open-minded, desirable approach –assuming there actually is no God. That’s a good approach –assuming that God does not love us. That’s a great approach –assuming that Jesus did not take onto himself our guilt and shame.

But if God’s love is real –then we are compelled. If God’s love is real, then we have boundaries that should determine the direction our daily lives take.