Jesus loves you. This you know, right? Because the Bible tells you so? Yes, me too. But I still think that if I really understood this fully, some of my daily life choices might be different. For goodness sake, Christ tells me that the God of the Universe loves me and knows me personally, down to the very number of hairs that are on my head! That is a BIG deal. Yet, I'm astounded that I might even go one day without remembering that.
Apparently, some people in Ephesus were struggling to grasp the same thing that I am. Ephesians 4:17-19 says, "And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God."
I love this idea of roots. May our roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. Of course, roots are what transports nutrients to support a plant's life. Through our roots we can soak up whatever nourishment we will need to survive. Of course, if we're rooted in something other than the knowledge of Christ's love for us, we will not be nourished to the fullest extent. We are all rooted in something. All of us get our energy, our purpose, and our perspective from something. Yet Paul knows from experience that the abundant life is found in one who is rooted in the knowledge of Christ's love.
And "may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how WIDE...His love is." One dimension of Christ's love is that is is wide enough to reach out to the whole universe. And His love is wide enough to to cover the breadth of our experieces and our sins: "as far as the east is from the west, so far He has removed our transgressions from us" (Ps. 103:12).
His love is also LONG. Length makes me think of time. "You knit me together in my mother's womb" (Psalm 139:13). Even before you were born, God loved you. Picture this God knitting you together. What a picture of love that is! And God desires for us to be with him eternally...now that's a long time.
His love is HIGH and DEEP. It rises to great heights during times of our celebration, but it also goes down into the darkest valleys of our lives and is with us during our sorrow, discouragement, despair, and even all the way to the moment of death.
Yet, what brings me the most comfort from this passage today is that Paul tells us, "May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it." So, God knows that as much as I might desire to know Him fully and understand His ways, it just won't be happening this side of heaven. "For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12).
In the meantime, God is honored by our continual pursuit of Him, and quite frankly, I am better when I am in continual pursuit of Him. I can ask the Lord to show me His love for me as it is revealed so many different ways in His Word, and I can grow in my love for Him. But as for my unanswered questions, it's okay. I'm not meant to know everything now. Lord, help me to be okay with that while I wait, and just to trust that all I need to know is that Yes, Jesus Loves Me...the Bible tells me so.
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