DEEP AND WIDE
SCRIPTURE
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.
-Ephesians 3:17b-18
I've seen the Grand Canyon with its abyss where the river below looks more like a stream I could jump across. I sat on rocky ground with my tennis shoes staunch against a boulder because I knew I would not survive a fall into that crevice. It was immense but not limitless. As wide as an ocean is, as long as a journey around the sun might be, as high as a space launch might reach, and as deep as a volcano might--go God's love is wider, longer, higher, deeper.
I sit in my small corner of the world and cannot fully imagine the limitless reach of God's love. But I know this in the deepest way possible: God's love reaches me. His love reaches every hidden place where thoughts, hopes, dreams, and motives are born. He knows me from the inside out and loves me limitlessly.
I didn't always believe that. I remember a Bible teacher who counseled us to sit silently until we understood that God's love was enough for us at that moment and for that day. I completed that exercise every morning for several weeks. To focus on God's singular and comprehensive love for me was life-changing. From a place of being completely loved, I loved others better, more willingly, and without expecting anything in return.
Too many times we try to love on our own, when our love bank has been depleted. Instead, we must start with how much God loves us. We can't simply tuck this fact away in our heads. It must be a truth we experience, fresh with each sunrise. God always gives us enough love to love others. He knows where our love can make a difference. We follow God's leading because self-willed love is often self-serving.
Whom is God calling you to love? Don't love with your needy, self-protecting love. Love from a fresh awareness of God's wide, long, deep, and high love that replaces your best effort with his limitless love. Then you will discover that, the more you share God's love, the quicker your love bank gets refilled.
BURNING QUESTIONS
1. What is your biggest hurdle in believing in God's limitless love for you?
2. Where do you try to share your love instead of God's love? How can you change that today?
AFFIRMATION
I can share more love with family and friends when I know how limitlessly loved by God I am.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
God of limitless love, remind me how your love heals where I have been hurt or betrayed by others.
SCRIPTURE
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.
-Ephesians 3:17b-18
I've seen the Grand Canyon with its abyss where the river below looks more like a stream I could jump across. I sat on rocky ground with my tennis shoes staunch against a boulder because I knew I would not survive a fall into that crevice. It was immense but not limitless. As wide as an ocean is, as long as a journey around the sun might be, as high as a space launch might reach, and as deep as a volcano might--go God's love is wider, longer, higher, deeper.
I sit in my small corner of the world and cannot fully imagine the limitless reach of God's love. But I know this in the deepest way possible: God's love reaches me. His love reaches every hidden place where thoughts, hopes, dreams, and motives are born. He knows me from the inside out and loves me limitlessly.
I didn't always believe that. I remember a Bible teacher who counseled us to sit silently until we understood that God's love was enough for us at that moment and for that day. I completed that exercise every morning for several weeks. To focus on God's singular and comprehensive love for me was life-changing. From a place of being completely loved, I loved others better, more willingly, and without expecting anything in return.
Too many times we try to love on our own, when our love bank has been depleted. Instead, we must start with how much God loves us. We can't simply tuck this fact away in our heads. It must be a truth we experience, fresh with each sunrise. God always gives us enough love to love others. He knows where our love can make a difference. We follow God's leading because self-willed love is often self-serving.
Whom is God calling you to love? Don't love with your needy, self-protecting love. Love from a fresh awareness of God's wide, long, deep, and high love that replaces your best effort with his limitless love. Then you will discover that, the more you share God's love, the quicker your love bank gets refilled.
BURNING QUESTIONS
1. What is your biggest hurdle in believing in God's limitless love for you?
2. Where do you try to share your love instead of God's love? How can you change that today?
AFFIRMATION
I can share more love with family and friends when I know how limitlessly loved by God I am.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
God of limitless love, remind me how your love heals where I have been hurt or betrayed by others.
Posted in Lent