Tag: drive

What Has You “Hemmed In”?

Monday’s Column: Neal At The Cross

There is an interesting Greek word with a very elastic use in the New Testament. The verb, συνέχω (sunecho), is translated the following ways in its 16 uses (ESV):

  • “Oppressed” (Mat. 4:24)
  • “Ill” (Luke 4:38)
  • “Seized” (Luke 8:37)
  • “Surround” (Luke 8:45)
  • “Distress” (Luke 12:50)
  • “Hem in” (Luke 19:43)
  • “Holding” (Luke 22:63)
  • “Stopped” (Acts 7:57)
  • “Occupied” (Acts 18:5)
  • “With” (Acts 28:8)
  • “Controls” (2 Cor. 5:14)
  • “A hard pressed” (Phil. 1:23)

The word means “to press in hard from all sides” (Louw-Nida 225). Zodhiates says its figurative meaning is “to constrain, compel, press on…to be in constraint, distressed, perplexed…to be seized, affected, afflicted…with fear…with diseases…spoken also of a person held fast, pressed, occupied or the like…Paul was compelled or constrained to preach ‘Jesus Christ, and him crucified'” (np). 

It is not always a negative thing. In fact, we can be compelled by some very positive, powerful motivations. Paul was pressed hard by the love of Christ (2 Cor. 5:14) and his desire to be with Christ (Phil. 1:23). Yet, it can be bad, too. Stephen’s murderers were seized with such hatred for the gospel that they stopped their ears (Acts 7:57). The people from the country of Gerasenes were seized with great fear over Jesus’ miracle, but it caused them to ask Him to leave their presence (Luke 8:37). 

Is there something in your life that is driving and pushing you, moving and motivating you to make your decisions? Maybe it’s like the crowds surrounding and pressing in on Jesus (Luke 8:45), and it is occupying your attention intensely (Acts 18:5). What is it?

  • Academic achievement?
  • Occupation and career?
  • An earthly relationship?
  • Human praise?
  • An addiction or habit?
  • Your past?
  • Anxiety about the future?
  • Financial success or wealth?
  • Competition? 
  • The need to avoid embarrassment?
  • Self-indulgence?

Any number of things may fill in that blank, but Christ wants His love and His presence to mean so much to us and be so much a part of us that it presses us in and leaves little room for movement (BDAG, 971). We can grow to the point that He fills in all the spaces and so totally controls our desires and longings that His will is our want. I want to grow and mature to the point that this always describes me. If it does, those other things won’t tempt me as much! 

Neal Pollard

Why Do You Get Up In The Morning?

Tuesday’s Column: Dale Mail

Dale Pollard

In Romans one we find that Paul feels a great debt to the lost in the world around him because he’s got a message from above that people need to hear from him. He’s strongly convinced that if he doesn’t speak up, he hasn’t only failed spiritually but he’s failed the people who pass him by. Later in his letter he’ll write, 

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. 2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. 3 For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” – Roman’s 10.1-4

From these verses we can learn a thing or two about the life of Paul and it serves as a mirror that reflects back to us our own priorities. 

His heart: It’s filled with a desire to spread the message of salvation to others. 

Paul is motivated by the amount of people walking around in darkness. What motivates us? What provokes us to action? For Paul, it was simple. There’s a great number of lost people in the world and we’ve been given an uncertain amount of time to make that number smaller. 

His eyes: They’re looking for those who might be saved. 

Paul is looking for those with a zeal for God, but who aren’t following Him correctly. There are people who are on fire for God, but their fire is misdirected. In other words, we should be looking for that fertile soil. 

His mind: Understands that there’s only one law and one path that the saved are walking. 

Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. The righteous are the only people who truly believe. That belief is in the singular way to God. Paul was an effective soul winner because he was convinced that there are lost people who will remain lost if he doesn’t act. He was convinced that God’s way is the only way, and he is responsible for the opportunities to share that message with those God places in his life. 

If our motivation isn’t to seek and to save the lost, our priorities must be rearranged. 

What makes you get up in the morning?