UNDERSTANDING the ‘DIMENSIONS’ of GOD’s LOVE!
December
1 Bible Reading: Ephesians Chapters 1-3
UNDERSTANDING the ‘DIMENSIONS’ of GOD’s LOVE!
"For this reason I bow my knees to the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth
is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be
strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may
dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all
the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-- to know the love
of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the
fullness of God." (Eph 3:14-19)
In the above
passage, Apostle Paul is praying to God that we may be able to understand and
appreciate God’s love for us (v. 17). God loved us so much that He delivered
His only begotten Son Jesus Christ for us (Rom. 8:32). The only permanent
solution to the problem of sins that surface in our lives is to replace them
with the love of God. The more we are filled with God’s love, the less there is
room for anything else in our lives.
The way that
we can be rooted and grounded in God’s love is through Jesus Christ who dwells
in our hearts through faith, by which we are filled with the fullness of God
(v. 19). At the same time, we should be
able to comprehend the width, length, depth and height of God’s love:
- Width of God’s love:
Encompasses the entire world (John 3:16)
- Length of God’s love:
Forever, through all generations (1 Cor. 13:8; Eph. 3:21)
- Depth of God’s love:
Even down to the cross at Calvary (Phil. 2:8)
- Height of God’s love:
Even up to heaven, our final destination (1 John 3:1-2)
The width of God’s love (2:11-18) refers to
the wideness of God’s grace in saving Jews and Gentiles, and then incorporating
them into the church. The length of
God’s love (1:4) extends from eternity past to eternity future. We were chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world (1:4). As to the depth of God’s love, we were sunk in a
pit of unspeakable sin (2:1-3) and degradation from where Christ picked us up
and gave us a new lease of life (Psalms 40:1-3). The height of God’s love can be seen from the fact that we have not
only been raised up with Christ, but also enthroned in Him in heaven to share
His glory forever (2:6).
