Constrained By the Love of Christ

From the Pastor: Dr. M. J. Seymour, Sr.

“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 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.” (II Cor. 5:14-15)

The word “constraineth” as used in this passage means to be pressured on all sides to occupy one’s self with the passion of living unto Christ Jesus. Now, that which is pressuring the believer on every side is “the love of Christ.” It does not imply unwilling forced labor. It simply indicates that the overwhelming gift of the love of Christ poured out upon the believer encapsulates him. In the midst of this encapsulation the flood of that holy love of the Son of God inflames within the believer a naturally unrelenting responding love. He feels the absolute necessity to deny self that the Christ may flourish in the existence of his fleshly body. His all and in all of this life must unveil the love Christ that has engulfed and purged him.

Every authentic believer finds it to be an utter impossibility to secretly engage his daily life without the evidence of having been plunged into the Saviour’s love divulging itself. Where Christ is there is light, and His light cannot be apprehended by the darkness of this world. His light overpowers the strength of the menacing darkness of the sin nature. The new inner man is obsessed with walking in the light, as He is in the light. The believer’s gratification becomes the fulfillment of the will of God through a life in Christ Jesus. He judges that nothing short of complete abandonment of self that the Son of God might be revealed in all His glory to be only his duty. It is a willing love-bondage to Christ.

If one proclaims to love Christ, there must be an abundance of evidence to find him guilty of such claims. Are we found to be occupied with living in the image of Jesus? Are there verifiable proofs that we are being pressured (constrained) from without and from within to live not for self but for the Lover of our eternal souls?