Day 13 Compelled by Love
Day 13: Compelled by Love
“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” —Luke 19:10 (NKJV)
We don’t serve to be noticed—we serve because love has compels us. —Dr. Daniel LeBlanc
What moved Jesus to leave the radiance of heaven and walk among the hurting, the broken, and the forgotten? What gave Him the strength to endure betrayal, rejection, and the weight of the cross? It wasn’t duty—it was love. Every miracle He performed, every parable He taught, every wound He bore—all of it was driven by a relentless, pursuing love. Jesus didn’t come to earth to build a following or gain applause. He came to fulfill the deepest desire of the Father’s heart: reconciliation. His mission was simple and clear—to seek and save the lost.
When Jesus looked upon the crowds, He did not see inconvenience or interruptions. He saw souls weary from wandering, hungry for truth, and longing for a Shepherd. As Matthew 9:36 describes, “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” His heart ached for them, not because they had failed, but because they were lost. His love was not casual or calculated—it was active, powerful, and deeply personal. It was love that could not sit still. It was love that reached, touched, embraced, and ultimately redeemed.
The life of Jesus reveals a love that relentlessly pursued the lost. He did not come with condemnation, but with compassion. As John 3:17 (NKJV) so beautifully assures us, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” His ministry was not marked by judgment but by mercy. He dined with sinners and tax collectors, reached across social barriers to engage the outcast and the shamed, and even in His final moments, He forgave those who crucified Him. From the beginning to the end, His mission was love in motion—restoring the broken, lifting the fallen, and bringing the distant home.
If this is the love that compelled Jesus, then it must also be the love that moves us. As His followers, we don’t reach people to check a box or build a reputation. We reach because we’ve been reached. We love because we’ve been loved. The same Spirit that compelled Jesus to pursue the lost lives inside us now. When we dwell in The Father’s Love Zone, our vision changes. We begin to see the world not as a threat, but as a field ready for harvest. We stop judging and start embracing. We stop protecting our comfort and start extending His compassion. Love compels us to act—not out of guilt, but out of gratitude.
Prayer:
Jesus, thank You for loving me with a relentless, pursuing love. Thank You for seeking me when I was lost and for calling me by name. Help me never to grow numb to the wonder of Your love. Fill my heart with the same compassion that filled Yours, and let it overflow into the lives of those around me. Teach me to see people not through the lens of fear or judgment, but through the lens of love and grace. Let Your love compel me to reach, to serve, and to share—not to be noticed, but because I’m already known by You. In Your name, Amen.
