A Compelling Love

My life feels crazy out of control right now. Pulled between parties, birthdays, keeping a list, checking it twice, Christmas shopping, wrapping, and preparing to leave for our family’s annual vacation ten days before Christmas, it is taking an extra concentrated effort to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus. Several mornings my time with Jesus has simply been talking to Him while I try to get ahead of some of the piles in my office and messes around the house. I miss Him, though. When I lose sight of Him as my sustenance, when I forget that stillness in His presence brings the strength and peace I need to deal with all the chaos around me, I suffer. When doing, even if it’s doing “for Him,” takes the place of simply being with Him, it’s easier to swerve off course. Miss the mark.

How do we get to the place where Jesus is worth it? Worth trusting, worth being still, worth sacrifice, worth doing hard things, worth denying ourselves. Fearing God is the beginning, but there’s more. Here’s the second part of the excerpt from my book, Holy His: Hope for a Life and a Nation Wholly His:

In addition to fearing God, another force must be at work in us to live in complete obedience to Him: loving Jesus. Second Corinthians 5:14-15 tells us, “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” If Jesus is just “fire insurance,” and we pray a simple prayer of salvation for the sole purpose of avoiding hell, then we’re going to love Him about as much as an insurance agent who sells us a life insurance policy off the side of the road. In order to fall in love with Jesus, we must KNOW Him by spending time with Him in prayer, by studying His life, His love for us, His words, and His nature through reading the Bible. We fall in love with Him by worshiping Him and experiencing His faithfulness when we cry out, and He answers. When we do this, we will be overwhelmed with His love and won’t be able to help but love Him back. As a result, our affection for Him will compel us to live for Him, which means doing what He tells us to do.

What will that love look like? Above all, our love for Him must be pure and undivided. Jesus can’t just hold a spot on our list of the top ten people we love. He must be our first love. John, Jesus’ beloved apostle, wrote: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17). We clearly must choose one love.

In Mark 4:18-19, Jesus describes what happens when a heart is divided. He is teaching through a parable about a sower whose seed falls on different kinds of ground. The seed represents the truth, or the word of the Lord, and the ground represents us. In explaining what happens to the seed that falls among the thorns, Jesus says, “Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word and it becomes unfruitful.”

We can’t fool ourselves. We either love God, or we love the world. We can’t love both. James 4:4 makes it very clear: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Yes, we are to be in the world, but we are not of it (John 15:19). Our love – our adoration, our desire, the things we long for, the things we think on, the things we give our time, energy, and effort toward – must be for the Lord and desiring the things He desires. If our love is misdirected to the things of this world, the truth of God – His word – will be choked out, and our lives will yield no crop for the Lord.

The last few days during the quiet morning hours, I’ve sat with the Lord, doing nothing else but talking to Him. Reeling my thoughts back every time they scurry to an item on my to do list or a something I’ve forgotten, I have found an extra measure of peace. Nothing in my circumstances has changed, but He has drawn my eyes back to Him. In His presence I find perspective. In following His leading in every moment, He points me to His purpose. I find that my love for Him swells, and setting aside all the petty things of this world becomes easier.

Especially during this Christmas season – perhaps even in spite of it – may the love of Christ compel us to love and good works, that Christ may be glorified as we become more wholly His.

Shauna Wallace

Holy His

Rescued, Redeemed, Real (Part Two)

In the early months of my marriage to James, I finally and completely surrendered to God right where I was. The Lord by His grace turned my heart to Him, and I began to learn how to have a relationship with Jesus. Not religion. Not to-do lists. Not performance or works. Not rules and regulations. A relationship. I am so thankful that the Lord turned James’ heart to Him at the same time. We had a lot to learn, but as God showed us the reality of His perfect design, as we yielded to Him in obedience to His word in how we treated each other, He healed the things that were tearing us apart. We learned to put each other’s needs first, even when our needs weren’t being me. Even when the other person didn’t deserve special treatment. We didn’t do it for each other. We did it as an act of worship to our Lord (meaning the one who had the right to demand from us that which we didn’t see as fair). As we did, He changed our hearts toward each other. And He performed His promises in our lives.

“For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;

and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves,

but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

I’d love to say the transformation was immediate and overnight. That the angels sang and all was suddenly perfect. It was not. The first three years of our marriage was extremely difficult, even as we took baby steps toward better. God mercifully kept our toes pointed toward the cross. We joined a church and got involved in a home group. We surrounded ourselves with people who had relationships with Jesus and marriages like we wanted. We were completely broken, unable to maintain a façade. Desperate, we let others see the reality of our private life. We found love. Acceptance. Help. They listened, spoke the truth of God’s word, and remained by our sides as we learned new ways of living every aspect of our lives – from relating to each other, to parenting, to our finances, our friendships, our jobs. At some point, we started believing what God said. If the Bible said to do something, we had the faith to do it. We stopped doing things our way and did things His way.

“Let us draw near in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22).

Together, in spite of hick ups, setbacks, explosive arguments, hurtful words, deep disappointments, and hard times, we plowed forward in Christ, and the Lord did a mighty work in us, in our marriage, and in our family. We are living proof of God’s word. No matter where you are, no matter what you’ve done, you can be too.

“For the wages of sin is death,  

but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

"I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).

There is only one way.

“Jesus said to him, ’I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6).

You, too, can taste and see that the Lord is good.

"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

“If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart  

that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

As He promises in Philippians 1:6, He who began a good work in us is completing it. I could never do God justice in attempting to recount every way He has shown Himself mighty in our lives. There are, however, a few monumental, life-changing experiences the Lord has used sanctify me, satisfy my deepest desires, strengthen my faith, and demonstrate the certainty of His principles and promises.

God is faithful. He is no respecter of persons. In the next few weeks, as you read a few specific accounts of God’s amazing goodness and power in our life, I pray He uses what He’s done to speak directly to your heart and your circumstances. Or maybe the message is for someone you know. Either way, don’t miss next Thursday’s post.

Revelation 12:11 tells us the devil and his angels are overcome “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” I pray we overcome the same way – by the blood of the Lamb and the testimonies we share with each other of the greatness of God in our lives – as we become more wholly His.

Shauna Wallace

Holy His