October 21, Morning

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"The love of Christ constraineth us." — 2 Corinthians 5:14 · KJV

How much do you owe my Lord? Has He ever done anything for you? Has He forgiven your sins? Has He covered you with a robe of righteousness? Has He set your feet on a rock and established your goings? Has He prepared heaven for you, and prepared you for heaven? Has He written your name in His book of life? Has He given you countless blessings, and laid up for you a store of mercies that eye has not seen nor ear heard? Then do something for Jesus worthy of His love. Do not give a mere wordy offering to a dying Redeemer. How will you feel when your Master comes, if you must confess that you did nothing for Him, but kept your love shut up like a stagnant pool, never flowing out to His poor or to His work? Out on such love as that! What do men think of a love that never shows itself in action? Why, they say, "Open rebuke is better than secret love." Who will accept a love so weak that it does not move you to a single deed of self-denial, of generosity, of heroism, of zeal? Think how He has loved you, and given Himself for you! Do you know the power of that love? Then let it be like a rushing mighty wind to your soul, sweeping out the clouds of your worldliness and clearing away the mists of sin. "For Christ's sake" — let this be the tongue of fire that sits upon you; "for Christ's sake" — let this be the divine rapture, the heavenly breath that bears you aloft from earth, the divine Spirit that makes you bold as lions and swift as eagles in your Lord's service. Love should give wings to the feet of service, and strength to the arms of labor. Fixed on God with a constancy that cannot be shaken, resolute to honor Him with a determination that cannot be turned aside, and pressing on with an ardor never to be wearied, let us show the constraining power of love to Jesus. May the divine magnet draw us heavenward toward itself.