For this reason, I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
-Ephesians 3:14-21
What is the love of God?
How could we possibly grasp something so complex as the love of God? A love that goes far beyond our own human ability to understand and yet apostle Paul is praying that we the people of God may grasp such a complicated thing. The love of God is both something we will never be able to fully understand while at the same time is within our grasp. In his great mercy and grace, God gave us the ability to hold something that we will never be able to fully understand, His love. But God didn’t just give us the ability to hold his love with our hands, rather he invites us to grasp his love with our hearts.
Valentines Day is the day for love and what a fun day it can be, especially for our children with lots of cards and candy. Love is something we may find in a fictional book, an encouraging card, at a beautiful wedding, on the face of a child or even the family pet. We tend to use the word love often and in regard to many different things. I love my children, and I love reading. But according to the word of God, we become rooted and established in love when we allow Christ to dwell in our hearts through our faith in him.
I may enjoy romance novels and Hallmark movies, but my interest in the topic of love does not make me rooted and established in love. We do not become rooted and established in love through books or movies or even people. The only way we become rooted and established in love is through Jesus Christ. He is the one who established love in the first place and He himself is love, so we will never be able to grasp love without Jesus. We may grasp the idea of love; we may be established in all the information about what love is. But we will never be in love without Jesus.
It is one thing to know what love is in our minds, but we fully experience love when we seek the heart of Jesus.
“And to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” -Ephesians 3:19
The original Greek word for know in Ephesians 3:19 is ginōskō which means to know intimately. God knows us more intimately than anyone else because he literally created every part of who we are. But he didn’t stop there. He placed love inside of our hearts. Not the feeling of love but love itself. God did this by placing his spirit inside our hearts when we placed our faith in him. God is love and he is dwelling inside of us. What an amazing gift! God loves us more and He loves us better than anything else in this world. In his great love He didn’t just create us, but he placed his heart in ours. This kind of love is the most powerful love there is.
For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every familyin heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. -Ephesians 3:14-21
Beautiful! I want to always love like 1 Corinthians 13 tells me. It is the greatest thing God gives.