The natural deodorant I applied in haste is tested as I stare at yet another load of dishes waiting to be put away. The phone buzzes on the shelf notifying me of another text and I attempt to not cry as I pick up another broken glass that was accidentally tipped over. It is now the time to decide if I will return to teaching for next year or stay home again teaching my kids. My heart pounds in my chest and my breathing becomes shallow. In just a few minutes I can go from feeling put together to falling apart.

& then I remember the verse I’ve been clinging to.

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

2019 is far different from the early church a few thousand years ago. No dishwasher, no vacuum, no phones, yet Jesus’ love remains. The underlying pressures of the world are similar as God’s Word speaks statements of love, value, worth, no fear, respect, marriage, anxiety, money, into the 21st century.

Christ’s love compels us, seizes us, stops us in our tracks and presses us in to hold us together. He is pressing in, holding me together in moments I feel put together, and in the moments I run to my room to cry and let it all out. I can’t do it on my own. I can try, but surely in vain. His love is active, moving, transforming, it urges us on. This truth is a beautiful picture that brings peace. When a feeling stops me from moving forward in what I am to do, I turn to the Truth and am reminded of the awesome power, beauty and grace of His love. Sometimes love is holding me back from a moment of stupidity or selfishness.

“It was the Apostle’s sense of the love that Christ had shown to him and to all men that was acting as a constraining power, directing every act of every spiritual state to the good of others, restraining him from every self-seeking purpose." - Elliot’s Commentary for English Readers.

On this week leading to Easter, re-read the second portion.

“And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

May we not let another Easter week pass by with a flurry of candy sales or a panic about menus. Let us reflect with humility and thanks on the truth and power of His love, His love that set us free once and for all. Jesus’ love that molds and transforms, so that we may live for Him, and His purposes.

“For it is not my love to Jesus, but His love to me, that brings the real moulding power into my life, and my love to Him is only the condition on which the true power acts upon me.” Alexander MacLaren