TWIST MY ARM

We have probably all done it at one time or another. Perhaps you just finished having dinner with family or friends when they bring out the dessert they prepared especially for you. You really shouldn’t eat any. You’re full from dinner, and you just started a diet. But your mouth is watering, so you say, “Twist my arm.” With the slightest twist (or no twist at all) you give in and have not one but two helpings all because your host forced you to do it. How compelling does someone need to be when the desire is already in our hearts? You’ve twisted your own arm.

What would it take to really force us to do something we didn’t want to do? More than that, is it possible that something could be so compelling as to change my desires so I do not act with regret and sorrow? If you invite my dad over for dinner and then offer him cherry pie, he will eat a piece just to be nice. My mom however knows better than to even make a cherry pie for him because he won’t eat it for her. It would take some real arm twisting for my dad to ever like cherry pie.

This may surprise you, but my arm has been twisted to the point that I have surrendered my will and am not distressed. My desires have changed yet I am not manipulated or coerced as some might think. Perhaps such a change has happened to you as well.

• For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
  2 Corinthians 5:14 (NIV)

I have been constrained by the love of Christ to live a new kind of life. Some people might think I’m crazy to do what I do, but I can’t help it my desires have been transformed by God’s love.

What is so compelling about the love of Christ? [1] It is a sacrificial love that gave all it could on my behalf; Christ died for me. [2] It is an eternal love that will never end. [3] It is an unconditional love that loves me even when I was unlovable. [4] It is a sovereign love that will accomplish its every desire for me by working all things together for my good. [5] It is a patient love that does not give up on me. [6] It is a free love that cannot be purchased but only received as a gift. [7] It is an enduring love; though His love may seem hidden, like the clouds hide the sun, God’s love remains faithful to me.

I’m feeling my arm twisted by God’s love, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. His love compels me. What do you think?