Friday 6 May 2016

Christ's Love And Not Fear Compels Us

The earth is not a static place where nothing happens; man does things as a result of the decisions he made. However, there is a driving force involved in making choices; this is seen in every decision made by man. We are the result of the decision we make; but there are times where one is compelled to make. To follow Christ, we have to be compelled before we accept Him, but are people compelled by the right force today? Let’s find out.

There are many people today who accepted Jesus as Lord because we Believers told them they would go to hell if they don’t accept Jesus. They tell about the sins they commit and how God will punish them if they don’t accept Jesus. [True, hell is real and those who don’t accept Jesus there, but this is done after much persuasion by the Holy Spirit. God gives mercy to those who are not saved several opportunities to get saved and they are obvious signs that the unsaved cannot deny it (ref. Romans 1:20-21). This opportunity happens over and over till the second coming. This is when those who deliberately don’t accept Jesus go to hell]. My point here is that fear is not the way Jesus taught us to win people to Him; the way Jesus taught us is through love!

The bible says God so loved the world [ref. John 3:16], this is to imply He would want us back with love in order to save us from the disaster prepared for the devil and his angels. Jesus showed this aspect of love in the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. Jesus asked those who wanted to cast stones at her to cast stones if anyone was without sin, since no one was without sin they dropped their stones and left. But the point here is that someone had the freedom to cast stones at the woman but didn’t, who was that? Jesus! He was without sin. When Jesus noticed that the woman’s accusers had gone, He said to the woman, ‘“Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said “No one Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”’ John 8:10-11. This was an act of love; the woman naturally would stop her act of adultery because she was shown love instead of condemnation. Note that Jesus didn’t support sin but He didn’t condemn her.

However, what we have today is Believers spelling out the sins of people, instead of spelling out the love of Christ. It is explaining the love God has for us by sending His Son to die for us and what He did on the cross that really gets one saved; because then the unsaved would truly know God loves him and would want to follow Christ. But people just talk about the sins committed and how they would suffer is they don’t repent; so people turn to Christ to save their heads, but this is not genuine repentance. This is why we find half baked Christians today, because they can’t defend the scriptures, why? This is because the entire bible talks about the love and mercy of God towards man. The bible says in John 3:17 that, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. This verse comes immediately after the verse which explains how God loves us.

Apostle Paul when explaining the Ministry of Reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5 said in verse 14, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.” NIV. The Message puts it thus, “Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.” The point we have to understand is that condemning people doesn’t actually save them, it makes them worse and frustrated. This is when the person sins more and struggles not to sin; but when the love of Christ is what is shown and nothing else; this transforms their lives toward Christ.

Remember, it’s about Him and not us; we were never qualified. When we focus on ourselves we won’t have the opportunity of focusing on Christ. This was what happened to Adam and Eve; they lost their focus on God and started to focus on themselves. It is our focus on Christ that transforms us and not the focus on our faults. His strength is perfect in our lives and this is the gospel truth.
Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t. Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations, you’re born again, you are now brand new!

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GOD BLESS YOU.


Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are gotten from King James Version (KJV)

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