Christ-Active Living - Himalayan Heights - April 25 Readings: 2 Corinthians 5:11-15 – Compelled by Christ’s Love

Himalayan Heights: 2 Corinthians 4-5

All Scripture is God-breathed and useful, but there are some Scriptures that we can consider the Himalayan mountaintops of the Bible. In the next few months, we will be looking at a series of great texts that inspire and move us - the "Himalayan Heights" of God's Word.

Today's Reading:  2 Corinthians 4-5

Read 2 Corinthians  4-5 if you have the time. Focus on and meditate on 2 Corinthians 5:11-15.

11 Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your consciences. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in outward appearance rather than in the heart. 13 For if we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

Through the Bible Readings: 1 Samuel 9-10, Luke 16, Psalm 51:8–14, Proverbs 11:21-22   

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional: Christ-Active Living 

Have you ever been gossiped about, falsely accused, been the subject of someone's verbal attacks? Of course, you have. That is part of life. It is not a question of whether this will happen to you, but what you will do when it does. Jesus was called a drunkard and a sinner. Think about it - the sinless Son of God was accused of all kinds of wicked things by wicked men. Saul of Tarsus, from the moment Jesus Christ knocked him to the ground on the road to Damascus, was totally devoted to the cause of Christ. For him, to live was Christ. The Cross was his banner and the empty tomb was his hope. But that did not stop people from making up lies about him. They questioned the validity of his standing as an apostle. They wondered whether he actually had the revelations that he claimed in which the doctrines we hold so precious were revealed to him. And most importantly, because he was an apostle to the Gentiles, he was accused of violating the Law of God and all sorts of heinous things by the Circumcision party (the so-called Judaizers).

Paul spent much of the book of 2 Corinthians defending his ministry and explaining that he was genuinely called and that he genuinely served the living God of heaven. In today's passage, we see the heart of his argument. Because he fears the Lord, he seeks to persuade people of the truth of what God has revealed to him. Compelled by the love of God, he serves the Body of Christ, even if they question him and harass him and reject him.

In my current sermon series on the Fruit of the Spirit, and in other series I've preached, I called this "Christ-active living." Too often, we are reactive to others. When someone mistreats me I respond in anger and justify because "he started it" or "I didn't do anything as bad as she did." We respond to the attitudes and actions of others. Some tell us to be proactive, to choose our own attitudes and decide for ourselves how we will act. That sounds great but we are often betrayed by the flesh. The Bible teaches something very different - what I call Christ-active living.

"The love of Christ compels us." Why would Paul put up with a difficult church like Corinth? Why would he endure hardship and rejection and persecution? Why would he love his enemies and serve those who sought to undermine him? Because the love of Christ compelled him! He received the undeserved love of Christ on the cross and his entire life was motivated by Christ's love - not by his own will or by how others treated him, but by what Jesus did for him.

We have received the love and mercy of Christ and that drives us - or it should. When live is hard, we are compelled by the love of Christ. When people are difficult, the love of Christ compels us. When there is heartache and persecution and opposition, we are driven by what Jesus did for us regardless of what the world tries to do to us.

Father, I thank you for the love you have shown me through your Son, which can drive me, compel me, and strengthen me, even when the world is seeking to harm me and people are resisting!

Think and Pray:

How would you describe the way you live your life?
Are you reactive? Do you treat others the way they treat you? When others are unkind to you, do you respond in kind?
Are you proactive? Do you live by your own will and your own purposes?
Are you Christ-active? Are you compelled by the love of Christ in all you do?