I think we often underestimate the love of God. Perhaps because we have become calloused to the word “love” when it is used so flippantly here on earth. People will tell you they love you and then turn around and betray your trust the next day.
Picture the person you love the most here on earth. Now, imagine you had to sacrifice your child for this person. To allow your child to be tortured and put to death for this friend. Could you honestly be okay with this kind of sacrifice? This is what God did for us through Jesus. Without hesitation. This is the measure of his love. (1 John 4:10 “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”) When we try to grasp the full depth of his love for us, it gives us such peace and hope, and is very humbling.
Let this breakdown of a few verses in Ephesians be an encouragement to you today, as you ponder his great love for you.
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Ephesians 3:14-19
As a Christian, we should pray this way for others. We should pray that they, too, experience the love of God, which strengthens the spirit. The only way people can experience the fullness of God, and know how it feels to be so loved, is by allowing Christ to live in their hearts, and to be rooted and settled in that love. (This comes by salvation.)
Only then, after salvation, and becoming grounded in our faith, can we begin to comprehend how great His love is for us.
Ephesians 3:14 – beseeching
Ephesians 3:16 – blessings & boldness
Ephesians 3:17 – beginning & building
Ephesians 3:18 – big picture
Ephesians 3:19 – bountiful
