Something has gone terribly wrong with the good world God created. “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” Much of what He has made has become very bad. It is polluted, full of immorality and lawlessness, hatred and warfare. Something also has gone wrong with our good nation. The “land of the free” has thousands of its citizens incarcerated. There is ugliness and crime on every hand, and sin is so prevalent that it has affected all of us. And what went wrong with our homes? Half of the marriages end in divorce, millions of children are aborted and millions who are born are unwanted. Even the churches are guilty. Some have become so committed to progressive theology and wayward living that they have become entirely different from what Christ intended. Josh McDowell, with the permission of a pastor, passed out a questionnaire asking his happy, hand-raising young people how many of them were sexually active. Almost half of them said they were. He concluded that promiscuity among young people in some of the churches is almost as prevalent as it is outside the church. Our world, our nation, our families and our churches seem almost out of control. Each of us has been affected by this abnormality in one way or another, and most of us lack the conviction and the strength to do anything about it. Or perhaps we just don’t know what to do.
Is there some way that everyone could get out of this maddening maze and have a peaceful, productive life? Yes, there has been a way provided ever since Jesus came into our world. It is a way that always works wherever it is practiced. Angry Saul became the apostle Paul after he learned of it. Nations, families and millions of individuals have been changed by it. Paul tells us what it was that changed and fulfilled his life and the lives of his fellow Christians. He said, “The love of Christ controls us” (2 Cor. 5:14). If anyone will “renounce his stubborn will,” as the hymn says, and submit to the will of God, he will experience the same deliverance and freedom. Paul wrote, “The love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all…And He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf….Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. (God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:14-21). He also spoke of “Our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace” (2 Thes. 2:16). There you have it plain and simple. As Christians, we are new creatures, righteous and controlled by the realization that Christ loves us. We have covered up this truth with traditions, taboos and trifles and have all but forgotten it. One goes free when he accepts God’s love gift; he remains free by allowing the Love of Christ to controls him. Paul also said that no created thing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:39).
In his sermon on love, “The Greatest Thing in the World”, Henry Drummond wrote of a boy who was very ill and about to die. He had become unresponsive to his surroundings. Someone who loved the boy very much put his hand on his head and said softly, “God loves you, son.” Hearing these words, the boy sprang up in bed shouting, “God loves me! God loves me!”
If you are controlled by self-will and a multitude of distractions, you may suddenly realize that God loves you, and when His love becomes real to you, you will also shout for joy and be able to say with Paul, “The love of Christ controls me.” Furthermore, if you are concerned about the loneliness and suffering of those about you, tell them gently and show them sincerely that God loves them, and that the love of Christ will control their lives if they will submit to Him. But you must demonstrate this truth by your life or else your words will have no meaning. “We love (both God and others) because He first loved us (I John 4:19).
Is there some way that everyone could get out of this maddening maze and have a peaceful, productive life? Yes, there has been a way provided ever since Jesus came into our world. It is a way that always works wherever it is practiced. Angry Saul became the apostle Paul after he learned of it. Nations, families and millions of individuals have been changed by it. Paul tells us what it was that changed and fulfilled his life and the lives of his fellow Christians. He said, “The love of Christ controls us” (2 Cor. 5:14). If anyone will “renounce his stubborn will,” as the hymn says, and submit to the will of God, he will experience the same deliverance and freedom. Paul wrote, “The love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all…And He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf….Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. (God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:14-21). He also spoke of “Our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace” (2 Thes. 2:16). There you have it plain and simple. As Christians, we are new creatures, righteous and controlled by the realization that Christ loves us. We have covered up this truth with traditions, taboos and trifles and have all but forgotten it. One goes free when he accepts God’s love gift; he remains free by allowing the Love of Christ to controls him. Paul also said that no created thing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:39).
In his sermon on love, “The Greatest Thing in the World”, Henry Drummond wrote of a boy who was very ill and about to die. He had become unresponsive to his surroundings. Someone who loved the boy very much put his hand on his head and said softly, “God loves you, son.” Hearing these words, the boy sprang up in bed shouting, “God loves me! God loves me!”
If you are controlled by self-will and a multitude of distractions, you may suddenly realize that God loves you, and when His love becomes real to you, you will also shout for joy and be able to say with Paul, “The love of Christ controls me.” Furthermore, if you are concerned about the loneliness and suffering of those about you, tell them gently and show them sincerely that God loves them, and that the love of Christ will control their lives if they will submit to Him. But you must demonstrate this truth by your life or else your words will have no meaning. “We love (both God and others) because He first loved us (I John 4:19).
