Love that Constrains

This past Sunday, one of the hymns we sang in church was “Living for Jesus,” by Thomas Chisholm. The second stanza is—

 

Living for Jesus who died in my place,

Bearing on Calv’ry my sin and disgrace;

Such love constrains me to answer His call,

Follow His leading and give Him my all.

 

Love that constrains. That word, constrains, is something interesting. It means to limit or restrict. Does that sound odd to you? A love that limits us? A love that restricts us?

 

Isn’t it true, though? You, as a mom, put limits around your children because you love them. Yet in those limits, they find freedom.

 

It’s like Priscilla Shirer wrote—

 

Often, when God wants to move you forward to the next level with Him, He may require you to “tuck in your tunic”—to restrict certain things within the boundaries set by His truth. When you willingly submit, true freedom awaits you.

From “The Armor of God”

 

The truth is, you cannot go from here to there without leaving here. And that does require a response to the Lord’s love that is constraining.

 

In order to follow Jesus fully, to answer His call, the disciples had to constrain themselves. And so do we. If we are to walk in the Spirit, we cannot walk according to the flesh. (Galatians 5) If we are to put on Christ, there are numerous things we have to put off. (Ephesians 4, Colossians 3)

 

And that means, praying moms, if we are going to be the temples of our God, the houses of prayer—His prayer warriors—that we are meant to be, there will be much that we have to limit in our lives. But, isn’t it worth it? We not only get to participate in His kingdom work, we are drawn close into the Presence of the One who sits on the throne!

 

May His love constrain us to answer His call, to follow His leading, and to give Him our all.

 

Living for Jesus, a life that is true,

Striving to please Him in all that I do;

Yielding allegiance, glad hearted and free,

This is the pathway of blessing for me.