The Overmastering Majesty of Personal Power

I'm not wild about many of the daily titles in My Utmost. I would have titled this one, "Compelled by the Love of Christ" after the selected Bible verse.

"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died," 2 Corinthians 5:14, NIV. Oswald uses the King James Version: "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead."

Constrain: to force, to compel; to restrain; to coerce; to oblige

Compel: to exert a strong, irresistible force upon

And to what is Paul constrained or compelled?

Verse 9: "So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it."

Verse 11: "Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men."

Verse 20: "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God."

Oswald argues that spiritual maturity will lead us to be witnesses -- not merely to what Christ can do, which he calls "an elementary witness," but witnesses to the Person of Christ. This brings to mind an earlier entry in which he emphasized the difference between the blessings of God and the character of God. Am I striving solely to see his hand in my life or am I striving to see him? Am I bearing witness solely to my story or am I bearing witness to his?

The passage from Oswald which struck me with the greatest force today: "Paul says he is gripped by the love of God, that is why he acts as he does. Men may call him mad or sober, but he does not care; there is only one thing he is living for, and that is to persuade men of the judgment seat of God, and of the love of Christ."

I feel as though I am straining through a fuzzy mobile connection to understand what both Paul and Oswald are saying today. And I think the interference may be caused by my failure to fully comprehend the love of Christ. Paul's full comprehension of that love compelled/constrained him to act and live as he did.

Lord, I understand a piece of your message. Help me to grasp the full picture.

Barbara