PERFECT PRESSURE
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead. And He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him, Who, for their sakes, died and was raised” (KJV)
The biggest complaint people have about their lives is pressure: not enough time, not enough money, too much work, opinions of peers, health concerns, responsibilities from or to parents or children or bosses…even GOD Himself…or all of the above.
But not all pressure is bad. Some mental and emotional pressure makes us improve, increases our knowledge and ability and actually increases the quality of our lives. Peer pressure is only bad if you have the wrong kind of peers.
The word “constrains” in our verse today is exactly what it says in the King James version, to push in or down on, pressure. It’s the same word used to describe the crowds pushing in so hard on JESUS in Luke 8:45 that, when He asked who touched Him, His disciples responded that with everybody shoving in on Him how could He ask a question like that, it could have been anyone.
The passage is saying that the love of Christ holds Believers in His grip. This is what JESUS meant in John 10:28-30 when He talked about His sheep knowing and listening to Him and being in the grip of Himself anf GOD the Father. And what Isaiah (29:16) and the Apostle Paul (Romans 9:21) meant about the clay being in the grasp of the maker of clay pots just as we are squeezed and molded by the Love of GOD Himself. We are controlled not just by Him being in control of us and everything around us. But when as the passage for today says we understand what He has done for us by rescuing us, we want to live a life pleasing to Him.
Christ is then our Life (Colossians 3:4). His control and pressure on us constrain us to Life and away from hurt and death like the pumping of the heart controls the flow of blood through veins and arteries. What fool says “I don’t want my blood cells to be controlled! They should have a right to travel anywhere and do anything they want!”? That’s called a hemmorhage or aneurism and leads to destruction.
The Life of the Believer, who realizes GOD Himself loved us to Life and seeks to keep us under His protection for the Spiritual health, wholeness and happiness He gave Himself to bring us in Christ and lives through Believers in the Holy Spirit, is one of control. It is the perfect pressure of the Hand of the Beloved squeezing ours to reassure us of His presence and our response in kind to please Him.
