I was just taking a look at Ephesians 3 tonight, and beginning in verse 14, there is a beautiful prayer that is offered up, and in verse 18 are these wonderful words:
“[I pray] that you might have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding so that you might be filled with the fullness of God.”
There are too many thoughts that this verse invokes to discuss in such a short time in this article, but there is great power in them. One of the many things he is describing is the “bigness” of Christ’s love, with all of its measureless dimensions. Two things come to mind.
First is to ask, as the hymn asks, “What wondrous love is this?” that even you and I, in all of our shortcomings, would be so earnestly and generously offered Christ’s love in such a very personal way that all of God’s love in Christ is aimed at you and me. That’s enough to ponder for a long time.
But second would be to ponder, “If God’s love is this big, and Paul’s wish is for the fullness of God to dwell in me, then how much do I have yet to expand my love, small as it is, to make room for God’s love to dwell in me and express itself to others?”
That is another thought that would take a while to chew on. I can only imagine what it must have felt like for the church in Ephesus to receive these words of prayer and blessing, and how it must have propelled them into a deeper understanding of their self worth in God’s eyes, but also of how they had to make room to expand their sense of love for God and for others.
What is awesome for each of us, is to think about how that same sense of God’s love is there for us too. That same breadth and length and height and depth are offered to us as well. So this week, may you ponder that love and experience it for yourself.
Blessings Sonny