2 Corinthians 5:14-15 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
When was the last time you felt compelled to do something? You know, your gut kept pushing you do accomplish the task, and you didn’t get rest until you did. The push from within drove you forward toward the goal.
Or maybe the source of the compelling came from outside. Your coursework demanded that you give extra time to accomplishing the assignment. Your boss kept pushing you, repeatedly mentioning the deadline that was rapidly approaching. Your child kept pulling on your pant leg until you did what they wanted.
We are all compelled during our life to accomplish things. Parents are compelled to potty train their children so that they don’t have to change diapers anymore. Students, so they don’t fail the class. Bosses, so the bottom line doesn’t suffer.
But there are other compulsions that can exist. Some of them are not healthy for us. Addictions are compulsions that have been followed for years. For the addict the world often shrinks in focus to the next high. That is all they seem to put their energy into. Other aspects of life seem to fade away.
But there are healthy, productive compulsions as well. Our text tells us of the pull of the Gospel on Paul’s life. He went through more than almost any human being in his lifetime. And yet, he continued to fulfill his mission to share the Good News with both Jew and Gentile.
And it really was a simple message that burned in Paul’s heart. Jesus died for the sins of all people. And now we should respond by living our life for Him. Jesus’ death makes it possible for us to live a life pushed in a different direction. We were swimming downstream; now we swim up stream, against the current of the world.
Paul’s own life demonstrated this kind of change. He went from persecutor to pursuer. The direction of his whole life changed, and those around him could see it. There was such a change in him, that it got under the skin of those who knew him before but hadn’t yet become Christians. They couldn’t explain the change and that drove them to try to eliminate him, as they tried to eliminate Jesus.
But we are reading the results of Paul’s ministry today, almost two thousand years later. The letters Paul wrote to various communities of believers show the working out of the death and life of Jesus. They show what dying to the old self and living for the new looks like. And our lives are enriched because of it.
So what is compelling you today?