Control part 1
There's a phrase in the New Living Translation of the fourteenth verse of the fifth chapter of second Corinthians. And this phrase hit me in the heart, right between the eyes. It got stuck in my Spirit. So, just like my pastor taught me, I'm gonna preach it until I'm empty on it. The phrase is pretty simple, but I think it changes everything. It gives us--ME, at least--a totally different way of looking at things. Ok. Ready? Here's the phrase: "Christ's love controls us." Kind of revolutionary, don't you think? Because here's the deal: As much as we think we have free will (I can do whatever I want!) we're servants. And even as much as we think we're rebels without a cause (give me a line and I'll cross it, give me a rule and I'll break it) that rebellion is a FORM of servitude. There's something inside of us that--as the King James Version of 2 Corinthians 5:14 says--compels us to do what we do. And realistically Jesus laid it out for us in Matthew 6:24 (NLT), "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." No one can serve two masters but everyone DOES serve one of the other. God or mammon. God or money. The Kingdom or the world. Giving or getting. Because that's what it comes down to. Either you don't know what you've got so you spend all of your time, talent, and treasure trying to get something... or you know and believe that Daddy loves you and you spend those Three T's SHARING what you've got! Guys, love is NEVER about getting. It's always about giving. Because love IS giving. The wages of sin is death. That's all you can earn through your own effort and (self) righteousness. But the gift of God is eternal life. He gave it to us. Jesus gave His life FOR us and He gave His life TO us. And now we have it. So we are no longer controlled by trying to get it. Now we are controlled BY it. What else could it mean to present our bodies as a living sacrifice other than letting Christ's love control us? Rather than trying to act like Him (which is, at best, just an act) we simply surrender to Him. We give up control. And we let Him do whatever He wants to do in us, and through us, and as us. And here's what makes that easy: We KNOW what He wants to do in us, and through us, and as us. He wants to express Himself. And since He is love... ALL He EVER wants to do (I'll say it again) in us, and through us, and as us... is love. Christ's love doesn't control us in the same way that money tries to. Christ's love doesn't say, "Do this or else." It doesn't make us jump through hoops in order to earn it. It's not from the outside-in. It's from the inside-out. Christ's love controls us by filling us up to overflowing so that it comes out of us naturally. Effortlessly. "Serving" God isn't about jumping through hoops. Don't we get it that Christ came to serve US? And all we have to do is receive it and release it. Love others AS He loves us. Luke 10:37 (NLT) sums it up: "The man replied, "The one who showed him mercy." Then Jesus said, "Yes, now go and do the same."" Love controls us because we are loved. Because we are LOVE!