Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
When Paul wrote 2 Corinthians 5:13-15 he had become a rather old man, and he had endured terrible sacrifices, having been beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, imprisoned, starved, cold--times without number. His friends tell him, "Paul, why don't you stop? You've done your duty. Look at all you have suffered. Let others bear the burden and the sacrifices. You've earned a rest!"
Paul replies: People may think I'm crazy, but I can't stop! "The love of Christ constrains us."
Let's pause a moment to understand what he is saying. Paul is not going to tell us, "You ought to be constrained by the love of Christ!" If he said that, it would be legalism all over again. No, Paul tells us exactly why the love of Christ constrains him; and if you have a believing heart, the result will be exactly the same for you as soon as you learn this lesson. Paul goes on to say: "The love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge, that if One died for all," then all would be dead if He had not died for them (vs. 14). What does he mean?
Whether or not you believe the gospel, the fact is that Christ died in your place when He died for "all." Therefore, if He had not died for us, you would now at this moment be dead and in your grave. When Paul realized that, he took a deep breath. "I don't belong to myself! I don't possess anything that is mine by right--even my physical life I owe to Christ who died for me. My money, my house, my land, my education, my time, my strength--not one of these things I have called "mine" is really mine at all. I am infinitely and eternally in debt, a debt imposed by the grace of Christ."
Paul continues and explains to us how this mighty motivation works in our hearts. "And that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again" (vs. 15). In the original language the idea is clear that those who understand and believe this great truth of grace will "henceforth" find it impossible to live self-centered lives. No more gritting your teeth and clenching your fists and trying to force yourself to work hard for the Lord; it is automatic. An appreciation of the love of Christ has transformed you into a slave forever, a slave "under grace," a free person of Christ's.
The key word there, and of course throughout the Bible, is "love." You cannot truly live under grace unless you appreciate that love revealed at the cross. When the sinner sees that cross, and appreciates that kind of love poured out, all for him, the tears come in his eyes. His heart is melted.
That is true New Testament faith--a heart-appreciation of that tremendous love. That is why we shall keep on learning to glory in the cross of Christ. And more and more that "under grace" motivation will crowd out the old self-centered hope-of-reward or fear-of-punishment motivation, and we shall walk at liberty, the glorious liberty of the sons and daughters of God.
Let us come out of the shadows into the sunshine of living "under grace," and work for Christ because His love "constrains us."
--Robert J. Wieland
From: "His Cross Constrains Me!," 1984.
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