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.
Ephesians 3:18,19
God went to all the trouble of rooting and establishing us for a reason. He didn’t do it because he got bored. He wasn’t sitting back with nothing to do and then thought, “Hey, I’ll root and establish them.” He wasn’t doodling on his tablet where he outlined the idea of rooting and establishing us after deleting a bunch of other ideas.
No, he purposefully rooted and established us. And he did this for a reason. The first reason is so we would be able to start getting our arms around how great the love of Christ is for us.
In order for us to start understanding Christ’s love, we have to take hold of it. We have to grasp it. No one can hold it for us. No one else can grasp it for us. We have to personally hold it. We have to grasp it for ourselves.
It’s like winning a prize. It’s great to have the winning lottery ticket, but you have to own it. You have to hold it. The only way you benefit from it is if it’s yours. It doesn’t do you any good if it belongs to your neighbor or the person next to you. You must possess it.
With the love of Christ, we can’t hold it in our hands, but we can reach out for it with our heads. With our hearts. We can think about it. We can roll it around inside, thinking about all the ways he shows his love. We can know for certain that he has taken care of us. We may feel it, but feelings are not guaranteed. What is guaranteed is the fact of his love.
And there are four-dimensions to his love for us.
Wide – think about his love reaching to the ends of the earth, that how wide his love for you is. He would go to the ends of the earth for you.
Long - think about his love reaching beyond the horizon, that how long his love for you is. The greatness and number of his blessings are like that.
High - think about his love reaching high into the heavens, that how high his love for you. His love is not only heavenly but is the best possible kind or love.
Depth - think about his love reaching to the depths of the sea, that how deep his love for you. No matter how emotionally low you go, no matter your failures, God’s love is deeper still.
These four-dimensions of God’s love are too wonderful, they are too high to fully understand. We’ll never fully get all the parts of his love. We’ll never see all the pieces of his love. We’ll only be able to see the greatness of his love.
It’s like looking at the untold number of galaxies across the universe. We can read the number that explain how big they are, how far away they are. We can be totally blown away by their beauty. But we’ll never fully understand how they work. How they were made. What makes them tick.
I’ll never forget the first time I walked up to the rim of the Grand Canyon. It was just so big, so beautiful, so grand. I just stood there, gawking at the size, the colors, the endless variation of rock formations. I’ve now been more than a dozen time, and I still have the same reaction.
Whenever we take the time to look into who God is, and his love for us, we should walk away with the same reaction. Only more so. We’ll never really get closer to understanding him. We’ll never approach seeing him in all his beauty, power, glory, or love.
That’s what makes Christmas so wild and wonderful. The God of the universe personally shows up, coming to earth for the express purpose of bringing us back to himself.
And we’re not alone. All the saints of God are in the same boat. No one really gets the love of God. Not the Apostle Paul himself. Not the Pope. Not the greatest preacher. We’re all the same when it comes to seeing how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.
And in the midst of our failure, we fall down in worship. Our response, our reaction is like these words from an old hymn.
and from my stricken heart with tears
two wonders I confess,
the wonders of redeeming love
and my unworthiness.[1]
Yes, wonder. Wonder beyond comprehension. Wonder beyond knowing. Wonder beyond understanding. Wonder of wonders. We join David in worship.
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
Psalm 95:6
When we bow down in worship, when we kneel in front of God, only then do we start to get a small glimpse of who us is. He is God, beyond measure and understanding.
Noodling Questions
How can we cooperate with God to know his love for us?
What people or things try to push away the reality of God’s love for us?
How does seeing God as beyond measure and understanding change you?
[1] Beneath the cross of Jesus, Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane, 1868
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