Compelled!

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by:  Staci Stallings

Have you ever been compelled?

It’s a strange word, right?

COM-PELLED.

It means to force or drive. 

Obviously “to force” is not particularly something positive.  You don’t want to be “forced” to do something.

But “to drive” is different.  If you are “driven,” we usually mean from the inside.  In other words, it’s not like your mom telling you to take out the trash again.  This is being DRIVEN to get up, to do it, to accomplish something.

Further, “driven” usually doesn’t mean from outside yourself.  You WANT to do this… whatever it is.

And so we arrive at the verse for today, continuing our discussion about how changing your operating system to God’s can redefine your whole world.

The verse comes again from 2 Corinthians 14:

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.”

“For Christ’s LOVE compels us….”

Have you ever been so in love with someone that you are willing to do nearly ANYTHING for them?

In the world, that kind of love can become destructive and often-times self-destructive.  But this love, this love FROM Christ is renewing!  It’s life-giving.  It’s going beyond the death of our old operating system and getting a brand new one!

When we have become convinced that our old operating system has to go, and we trade it in for the new one, we become COMPELLED by the love we find Christ has for us.

Maybe this sounds like circular reasoning, but it is incredibly profound, and once you have lived it, the experience will absolutely change you forever.

No longer do I focus on my behavior… did I do that right enough, did I say that the way I should have, did I do it good enough.  I now focus almost solely (I am still human after all!) on Christ’s love for me.  How THAT is my guiding force, how THAT propels me forward, taking on things I otherwise would shrink from because they are too big.

I always remember when my oldest got chosen to be the teen director for a retreat.  Instead of jumping at the chance, which I expected her to do, she would not make the phone call to accept.  So I asked her, “Do you want to?”  She “shrank” in the chair.  ”Yeah, I kind of do.”

“Then why aren’t you making the call?”  ”I just don’t know if I can.”

I smiled and told her honestly. “You can’t.  But God can.”

When you get on the God operating system, all of a sudden you are not stymied by “I can’t” because you realize, it’s NOT ABOUT YOU!  It has nothing to do with your ability, knowledge, or effort.  It’s about His Love shining in the world through you!

That’s what St. Paul is getting at in this verse.  The love of Christ changes you.  It DRIVES you to share it with the world, to tell people about this amazing, profound, incredible GIFT that Jesus Christ gave ALL of us on that cross.

That yes, we messed up, but He loved us anyway!

And all St. Paul wants to do is shout this from the rooftops for everyone to hear, know, and accept into their lives!

How about you?  Do you feel COMPELLED to share Christ’s love?  Or does it feel like a burden to go to church, to read the Bible, to share Him?

If it feels like a burden, I challenge you to look at your operating system.  Are you still clinging to that one with the shame and fear viruses?  The one that makes you feel like hiding?

If so, it’s time to consider getting rid of the old and “renewing” yourself in God’s love for you!

There’s no better time than NOW!