By Dawn Ford
 |
| http://www.infiniteloveministries.com/ |
With a ministry named Infinite Love, what else would I be
talking about on Valentine’s Day, but God’s infinite love for us? There is no better way to do that then to
study the scripture that sparked our name.
Scripture
Ephesians 3:16-19
“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 saints, 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.”
Back Story
Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus and all believers
everywhere to strengthen their Christian faith.
He does this by explaining the purpose of the church and the body of
Christ as a whole. 1
Paul is in prison in Rome under house arrest. In the day he
was free to move around the house with the supervision of soldiers, but every
night he was chained to a soldier to make sure he did not escape before his
trial before Caesar. His crime was his
missionary efforts on behalf of the Gentiles (non Jews, as in us). Paul suffered for the very truth he would
explain to the Ephesians in this six chapter book, but this did not make him
back down one bit. The last thing Paul
wanted was people to feel sorry for him because he was imprisoned. He wanted
his readers to realize that it is a benefit for them that he was a prisoner. 2
Paul opens Ephesians Chapter 3 describing himself as, “a
prisoner for Christ Jesus for you the Gentiles,” (Eph 3:1). Paul might have been physically chained to a
Roman solider, but he knew that Jesus was the Lord of his life, not the Roman
government, so if he was a prisoner, he was Jesus’ prisoner.3 The scripture quoted above is part of a prayer
Paul speaks of the Ephesians and us.
Treasures and Truths for Us
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen
you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” Paul has experienced many trials and
tribulations up to this point but, he also knows how God has sustained and strengthened
him abundantly. God through the Holy
Spirit wants to strengthen us in the same way.
As a member of God’s family He promises His love and power to every
member of His family.4 Just
like Paul, all we have to do is believe and receive.
“...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith...” In the Greek language there are two words
that mean “live in.” One denotes live in a
place as a stranger, the other refers to settling in and making a permanent
home. Dwell, katoikeĊ, means a permanent
home. Jesus wants to settle
down in our hearts forever, not just visiting as a stranger.5
“...being rooted and established in love...” Paul is asking the
Ephesians (and us) to be rooted and grounded in their love for one
another. Spurgeon put it this way, “Two expressions are used: ‘rooted,’ like a
living tree which lays hold upon the soil, twists itself round the rocks, and
cannot be upturned: ‘grounded,’ like a building which has been settled, as a
whole, and will never show any cracks or flaws in the future through failures in
the foundation.” 6
“...to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love
of Christ...”
- The love of Jesus is so
wide that it covers all our sins, our failures and our shortcomings. It covers every circumstance in our life and
works it all out for good.
- God’s love is so long, it covers us before we were born and
it will be with us after we die. Jeremiah
31:3 tells us “...I have loved you
with an everlasting love.” We can’t out
love God and we can never lose His love.
- God’s love is
deeper than any human's could be. Philippians 2:7-8 tell us how deep the love of Jesus goes; “...but
made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in
the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself
and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
No one can go lower than the death of
the cross, and that is how deep the love of Jesus is for us.
- God’s love lifts us
to great heights. “How high you
might ask?” It lifts us to heavenly places where we are seated with Christ. “...He has raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6).
“...and to know
this love that surpasses all knowledge.”
There is no way to really comprehend God’s love for us, but we get a
somewhat better understanding when we look at the cross. The cross pointed in four ways,
essentially in every direction, because . . .
- God’s love is wide enough to include every person.
- God’s love is long enough to last through all eternity.
- God’s love is deep enough to reach the worst sinner.
- God’s love is high enough to take us to heaven.7
God’s love for all of us is infinite. On this Valentine's Day, whether you get a card, flowers, dinner or chocolate know beyond a shadow of a doubt that your God is crazy in love with you and has already given you the greatest gift he could ever give, His son.
1. Life Application Study Bible, New International Version, 1991, p 2128.
2. http://www.blueletterbible.org/, David Guzik commentary on Ephesians 3.
3. D. Guzik
4. D. Guzik
5. D. Guzik
6. http://www.spurgeon.us/
7. D. Guzik
Dawn Ford is the VP and Co-founder of Infinite Love Ministries, INC. A non-profit dedicated to showing all the infinite love of Christ. For more information please visit our website, http://www.infiniteloveministries.com/
