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Love's Conduct II: Love Compels

 ·   ·  ☕ 5 min read  ·  ✍️ Odunayo Rotimi

Snapshot

Key Text: 1 Cor 5:14-15.
Key Character: Jesus - the One who loves and must be loved like.

Overview

As a new chap on an internship in a new city, I decided to fellowship at a close-by church. It was customary to bring the handicapped to church for fellowship since it was close to a care home. My attention was drawn to a man making some embracing gestures on one such occasion. Why? He saw their caregiver give attention to one of them who was lonely and protested in her own way. To this, the man bent on his wheelchair, giggling like one carrying a baby in his arms, signifying his thankfulness for the caregiver’s concern for the lonely.

The bottom line is love is beautiful, told in words, but lively and felt, expressed indeed. To this, John the beloved contributed in instruction, saying, “Love not in words but indeed.” The best I had for the lonely that day, if anything close to love, was love at far sight – mere concern. He could not feel it. But the moment he saw love expressed in a crisis, he appreciated it, though the deed was not directly to him.

Love expressed itself in human form, as it were, being God in the person of Christ Jesus. To this, we could say love is a man possessing attributes. We, therefore, seek to consider the conduct of love in this series. May we be faithful to rise up to challenges, where we are challenged and repent where due. Thus He loved:

Love compels: “… the love of God compels us…”

From the story in the synopsis, we could observe that the man was compelled to express his joy seeing the company-lacking’s need met. It caused him to express his happiness. Only Satan sees love and denies it. The most callous heart on earth may be indifferent, expressing love. But their consciences cannot usually deny felt or expressed love. Even the unaffected act of indifference of the indifferent betrays the heart. Because indifference itself is a reaction. And where there is no preceding action, there can’t be a reaction.

Love, therefore, compels indifference or guided actions. This is love reciprocal. When a heart is moved by love, it reciprocates. Oh, it keeps the love interactions and cycles on. One expresses love, the other feels and expresses it back. Wouldn’t that be interactive heaven on earth! Love only stops being a way of life when a receiving party decides to block the current of the love ocean from flowing to the other by not giving back.

Paul wrote, saying, “Love of Christ compels us.” This statement precursors a reaction to an established action. What was the act? “One died for all.” If one dies for all, all died at once in One. Seeing this generous act of benevolence, the only response could only be “that those who live no longer live to themselves but unto Him who loved them and gave His life for them.” Love given provokes love to be issued in response. Christ died for all; what has His love compelled you to do in return? Love needs to be reciprocated for love to be alive. Living in love is expressive love in action.

Has Christ loved you, and his love has not compelled you to give your life back to Him in appreciation? Has Christ loved you, and you are so unmoved by His love to make you love the brethren in return? Are you prosperous and can’t part with a portion that alleviates a brother’s pain despite all Christ has sacrificed to you? If yes, we may say you lack adequate evaluation of yourself and the exceeding riches of glory stuffed in Christ Jesus. How? You have not deciphered how extensive and costly your sins are. Otherwise, you would have loved much. You would have seen salvation as an unmerited banquet prepared for a wasteful prodigal like you are.

Can you have swum in the love of God that is greater, far than the tongues of men can ever tell and not invite the weary one to at least come and bath his feet? Have you enjoyed His compassion for our weaknesses and would not ask the distressed to go and lay down his head upon Christ’s breasts? The love that never moves is the love unexpressed. But, dear friend, what has the love of God spurred you into? Any ill-thought of jealousy, malice, envy, bitterness towards your brother? It’s all a sign that you have not well-received the love given. Hence, your drought of reciprocal love carries no surprise element.

According to a friend of mine, it is not bad for love to expect warmth in response to care given. “Do unto others as you would be done by,” said Jesus. If then one has done good, it is not insensitive or sinful to expect. Thus we read: For God so loved the world, that He gave… that whosoever believes in Him, that is, receive the love given, should not perish but have everlasting life. The “have” in the previous statement means to possess or retain eternal life. That is, one who receives the love of God through the gift of His son needs to do anything and everything to maintain the everlasting life obtained as a result of Christ’s love. So we saw Paul write Timothy, even when the latter was not a baby Christian as with a battle charge: “..lay hold of eternal life…”(1 Timothy 6:12) It’s a healthy expectation which we must be compelled by all He suffered for us to meet. How much can we suffer bodily and spiritually that nears Christ’s suffering to make eternal life accessible to mankind? Are you compelled yet to fight the good fight of faith? Or constrained to live alone for Jesus? If no, tell Jesus to open your eyes to the true riches of God’s glory in Christ Jesus toward you.

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Odunayo Rotimi
WRITTEN BY
Odunayo Rotimi