How Wide, Long, High, and Deep

Have you ever sat on the beach along the ocean or the Great Lakes and been struck by the all encompassing vastness?  The sheer size and power.  Its gentle tide providing comfort; the waves pounding on the beach displaying its raw power.  Think back to a time in the surf trying to hold your own through oncoming waves.  Its power dwarfing your own.

In a way, this is one of many metaphors that just touch on the sheer enormity and power of God’s Love.  The love of God is a powerful healer of the wounded,  a source of strength for the weak, and even a motivator for service and devotion.  The Apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesian to know both the vastness and power of God’s Love.  He was motivated to serve an unpleasant prison sentence with Joy, knowing that service to such a Lord was deserving of his bended knee, a mark of pledged service to a sovereign ruler.  His prayer is recorded for all those who came after him in the letter to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 3:14-19 “For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole 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 saints, 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.”

In light of Paul’s prayer, and your own experience with the love of the Lord, meditate on the enormity and power of His love and contemplate the three questions below.

How has God’s love healed your wounds?

How has the Lord strengthened you during times of weakness?

How does the Lord’s love motivate you to serve Him and others despite hard times?

Bible References:
The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1984 (Eph 3:14–19). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.