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The Love Of Christ

         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 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 3:17-19)

 

          Yesterday’s post was about encouragement. If we ever needed to be encouraged about anything, today’s passage probably hits the bull’s eye. Paul’s prayer was for the Ephesians (and us) to have the power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. If this were as easy as grasping a coffee mug, Paul wouldn’t have needed to pray that we could grasp it.

          Sadly, God’s love seems to be as slippery as BAM.[1] Or, if you like a more familiar reference, as slippery as an eel covered in WD40. It’s not, actually, but at least to me, it seems like it more often than not. I know God loves me, but “love” is another of those things I’d like to put on a table so that I can examine it. I feel like the guy in the old Verizon commercials:



        Instead of asking, “Can you hear me now?” at every step, it’s, “Do you love me now?” And - it’s not only of God that I ask this - but at the same time, I’m no more likely to ask God than I am to ask the people I know. And if I did ask, I wouldn’t trust their answer because what would most of them say without looking like a jerk? After all, we’re supposed to be loving. And someone who needs to ask the question so often must be a sick person, right? Neurotically needy? Narcissistic? How dare we not assume the love of God and everyone around us?

          Most of us need to pray this prayer for ourselves and for one another because we will eventually need God’s answer in our lives.

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