Recently had the opportunity to share a few reflections with my church community from Ephesians 3:14-21 on the ‘Fullness of God’ and the empowering work of the spirit. Here’s a short edited piece with some of those thoughts on the importance of love.
One of the goals of Christ’s indwelling is to establish believers on a firm foundation of love – we are to be rooted & grounded in love.
Through the strengthening of our innermost being by the power of Holy Spirit and Christ’s indwelling in our hearts – we are established in love in order to be able to comprehend the greatness of the love of Christ.
Love is the soil in which believers are rooted and will grow and the foundation upon which we are built.
Love is the source of our Salvation.
Love is the ultimate goal of our lives and when Christ permeates our hearts we know we are rooted in love and from experiencing His love we are radically transformed.
Love is central to our experience with Christ
The dimensions of His love are;
So wide – it covers the breadth of our own experience and reaches the whole world
So long – it continues the length of our lives
So high – it rises to the height of celebration and elation
So deep – it reaches to the depths of discouragement, despair and even death itself
(Snodgrass, 1996)
Even when we feel shut out, isolated or alone – we can never be lost of God’s love for us.
We cannot escape His love – for He pursues us. He is jealous for us. This is how much He loves us. Why would we not want to experience more of this empowering work of the spirit in our own lives – to experience this love – to know a deeper measure and richness of His love?
A love that is so patient and so kind.
A love that does not envy, does not boast – is not proud.
A love that covers over a multitude of sins.
A love that has the power to change the world through transformed hearts and lives.
Grasping His love is beyond our intellect.
It is personal knowledge.
It is a personal encounter.
It is a personal revelation of God’s love and His plan for redemption for the whole world.
It’s being empowered to grasp the dimensions of His love in our own personal experience. To know this love of Christ surpasses our intellect and knowledge for it is so much greater – no one can ever fully know it.
This is the mystery of the gospel.
There is always more to know – more to experience and God wants to take us beyond our present knowing – and as we experience more of the immeasurable love of Christ in a personal and intimate way – we will be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. For it is God who fills us.
Love is central to the gospel.
Love is our foundation and we all need to continually grow in our own personally experience and knowledge of Christs love for us. As we experience His love for us – as we grow in this love personally and as a community – our love for him will increase, our love for one another will increase and our love for the other will increase.
Maybe as we grasp the depths of His love for us; we will begin to understand more about what it really means to have our hearts broken for what breaks His?
Restore2Revive 