We have been talking about “No Greater Love,” and now the question is, what is your response to that love? What is your response to God’s unfailing, awesome, never-ending love?

In his second letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul says, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, 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 Cor. 5:14-15, NIV) Another translation would say, “The love of Christ controls us.” (RSVCE) Ask yourselves for a second, would you say that your motivation for life is the love of God? Would you say that what drives your decision-making and your behavior is first and foremost the understanding, belief, and transforming power of God’s love for you? When we look at that word “compels” in the Greek, there are two different meanings. The first understanding is to hold together and to gather. You could say the love of God holds us together, brings us into harmony, and makes us integrated. The love of God pulls us to Himself and draws us into life with Him, and by drawing us to Him, we are then separated from anything that is not of Him. Part of that life of holiness is wholeness—being full and complete in ourselves in Him.

If I’m being drawn together by the love of God, I’m being drawn away from other loves, which we would call sin. The first response to the love of God compelling us, then, is repentance. As He draws us to Himself, the response is to get on our knees and say, “Lord, forgive me. Lord, I’m sorry for the ways that I’ve cooperated with false loves. I’m sorry for the ways that I’ve been disintegrated by sin. I’m sorry for the ways that I haven’t been united to you and have just been united to myself.” We bend the knee, not out of despair but out of great hope and joy. When the love of God compels us to repent, we become a new creation. St. Paul says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, and behold, the new has come.” (2 Cor. 5:17) The love of God compels us and controls us, but it also moves us and propels us forward. As the power of the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in us, not only does He purify us, make us sons and daughters, set us free, and make us a new creation, but then He also sends us to proclaim it.

As we are transformed, fear of the Lord begins to develop in us. The fear of the Lord produces wisdom, and wisdom helps us to see who we really are. Wisdom is knowing God’s mind about something. It’s understanding things as God understands them. As we acknowledge who He is and He gives us this gift of wisdom, we begin to see that it’s vitally important that people meet Jesus. It’s eternally important that people repent, begin to obey, and are transformed. We are compelled by this belief that the world—every single person—needs to repent and proclaim. To be compelled by the love of God is to care enough to see souls saved. To live in the fear of the Lord is to tremble at the reality of how serious this is—not out of servile fear of God but out of awe at the enormity of the opportunity to participate in Jesus’ saving work throughout the world.