For Me to Live Is Christ

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “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.”

I came across this excellent devotional on what it means to live for Christ. It stated that there are many motivating reasons for serving the Lord. One, of course, is His many merciful blessings on our behalf. Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Then there is the incentive of rewards: Revelation 22:12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.” There are also many rewards even in this present life for dedicated Christian service 

The great need of the lost is also a tremendous motivation for Christian service. This was the burden of Paul: “1 Corinthians 9:19 “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.” But surely the greatest of all motives is the constraining love of Christ. Not our love for Him, which is poor and weak at best, but His love for us. This is the constraining compulsion which makes us live and love and witness for Him. Because He loved us so much, therefore we no longer live for ourselves but unto Him who died for us.

If Christ died for all, that can only mean that “all were dead,” or more literally, “all died.” Therefore, if we live, it is because we have been “bought with a price”, the terrible price of the never-equaled suffering and the uniquely cruel death of the sinless Son of man. “For to me to live is Christ”- Philippians 1:21.