RPG Adults
CONSTRAINED BY CHRIST’S LOVE
LORD’S DAY, FEBRUARY 2
2 Corinthians 5:14-17
1 John 4:19
“For the love of Christ
constraineth us …”
CONSTRAINED BY CHRIST’S LOVE
The “love of Christ” here refers to Christ’s love for man. This love is manifested in Christ coming to this world to die for our sins. He did not have to do so because man deserves eternal death. Yet in His love He willingly submitted to the will of the Father. He came to live on earth and then to die on the Cross of Calvary. This is love most amazing, most divine!
Since Christ was the sinless Lamb of God and the Second Adam, His death on the cross was sufficient to pay for the sins of all mankind. Those who believe in Christ are thus identified with Him in His death and resurrection. They now have a new life in Christ (cf. Rom 6:1-11). Having been saved by the grace of God, Paul was “constrained” (sunechō) by Christ’s love. This love controlled, governed and impelled Paul to live a life of full surrender unto Christ. It is the love of Christ that motivated Paul in his service for Christ, and so it must be also for us. “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
Spurgeon aptly commented: “The life of the saved man must never be lived for himself; he is false to his profession if it is so. He must henceforth live as earnestly for God as, aforetime in his unregeneracy, he lived for himself, for he now has a new life which is not his own, to do with it as he pleases, but it belongs entirely to him who purchased it with his own most precious blood.”
What motivates us in our service for Christ? Is it for fame, power, prestige or gain? These were the motivations of Paul’s accusers, but these must not be so with us. Let our motivation for serving Christ be the love of Christ, that we may do all things for the glory of God alone. We can do none other after what Christ has done for us.
“Love so amazing, so divine. Demands my soul, my life, my all” (Isaac Watts).
THOUGHT: What is my motivation for service?
PRAYER: Help me to love Thee with my all, for Christ first loved me.