Romans 1:14-15 "Gospel Compulsion"

God turned Paul around and sent him on a completely different mission than the one he was on before meeting his Lord on the road to Damascus. Before that, he was bent on killing these new converts. Now he knew who the long-awaited Messiah was, and Jesus was calling him to share the truth! When Ananias was sent to explain to Paul what had just happened, he had his doubts, but the Lord told him to

“go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel . . .”

As Paul was later giving his testimony before one of those kings, he gave more details of that conversion experience. The Lord told him He had appeared to him in order to send him to the Gentiles,

“to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.”

Paul was obedient to God’s directives; he describes his call when he says,

“If I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.” - 1 Corinthians 9:16

That compulsion is what the prophet Jeremiah talked about when he said that if he tried to keep God’s words in they would become like a burning fire in his very bones! It is what Peter and John answered the religious leaders when they were warned/commanded: “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” They responded,

“… we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” - Acts 4:13-22

I am so thankful to all of these “Bible heroes” and for others since then, for acting in obedience to the “obligation” they felt to respond to God’s call on their lives. They are a sort of lifeline from the days of the early church until now. I want to be part of that line, continuing to the next generations. Am I even willing to ask the Lord for this same “compulsion” they had? Paul said he was “eager” to go. Am I?

-Wendy York