Deep & Wide

I am awestruck by the incredible depth of God’s love for me. I see it in my life, in the lives of those around me, and in creation itself.  The word of God has much to say about our father’s love for us. Ephesians 3:16-18 are some of my favorite verses on this subject.

“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through his spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 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 is.”

His love for you and me is deep and wide. Deep: his love permeates my very being, sinking down into my soul. He desires for us to have a full awareness of his great, unceasing and amazing love.  This love is to be accepted with no doubt as to its realness. Have you ever sat on a comfy chair to find that it has sucked you in? God’s love surrounds and enfolds you: like a caterpillar safe in its cocoon, like a joey in its mama’s pouch, we are protected, surrounded, loved.  Wide:  his love encompasses every area of my life and is with me wherever I go. I am never away from his love for me. Like a light piercing the most complete and dense darkness or a shadow cast wider than the tallest mountain, his love falls over me, casting a wide and complete net.

As children, we accept this love without reservation, as adults we strive to be worthy of it.  Ephesians 3:19 goes on to say, “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully, then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” From our understanding and experience of God’s love comes completeness. We don’t deserve his love because we are complete, completeness comes after accepting His love.