Morning Meditation, September 28, 2015
“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…” Ephesians 3:18-19
This passage of Scripture is not new to me, and perhaps not to you either. It’s one of the “hit” verses of the bible—to know how wide, long, high and deep is the love of Christ. Who doesn’t want to know this kind of love? And yet we often find God’s love for us incredibly difficult to grasp. We just know ourselves too well. We go to bed swatting away critical thoughts, fear consumes us, we’ve given in to our wayward lusts, or maybe it’s the shame of something from our past that seems to be the metal shield off of which God’s love for us will forever ricochet. It’s just so hard to believe sometimes that He really loves us. And even if we believe it in our heads—like we believe our mothers think we’re pretty, because they sort of have to—we don’t know how to coax it into our souls.
Given this common struggle I was intrigued when I noticed a word in this passage I’d never seen before. It’s the word power—as in, the power to grasp the love of Jesus. The Greek word is exischyō and is used only one time in the New Testament. Once. Right here. And it means, “to be eminently able, to have full strength, entirely competent.” In other words Paul is praying that we would have the power, the ability, the strength to grasp God’s overwhelming love because he knew it wouldn’t always come easy.
Photo courtesy of www.juleeduwe.com photography
Paul prayed for the strength to grasp God’s love
Paul prayed that the church at Colossae would be able to grasp God’s love. This tells me that God’s love is so beyond us that we will need His help to receive it on meaningful levels, to truly understand it and believe it in our bones. This inspires me to pray for those who can’t seem to receive the tender love of our Savior, even if they intellectually believe it. It inspires me to pray for myself, that the Lord would give me the capability to more fully grasp how wide, long, high and deep is the love of God. Though God’s love is a gift He lavishes upon us, being able to comprehend that love requires a certain strength, and Paul reveals that he prays for that strength. I believe we should, too.
God’s love is best understood within the community of believers
Notice Paul writes about being rooted in love together with all the saints. Believers in Jesus who isolate themselves from the body of Christ will have difficulty grasping Christ’s love for them, because part of comprehending His love is experiencing it within the community of Christ. I have a friend who’s been going through a hard season with health issues, her husband lost his job, and she and her new baby were recently in a car accident. She told me how our home church has reached out to her in such overwhelming ways that she’s receiving the wider dimensions of God’s love for her in places she’s had difficulty accepting it before. It’s taken the body of Christ to help her experience God’s love for her more fully.
God’s love surpasses our finite knowledge
I see another insight into why I sometimes have a hard time internalizing God’s love for me, really letting it seep into my being. This passage tells us that God’s love surpasses knowledge. And isn’t it typically our knowledge that stands in the way of us believing in God’s love? It’s the knowledge of the hurt in this world, the loss of a loved one who God could have healed, the guilt we can’t believe can be washed away. It’s all this knowledge of our circumstances that sometimes makes His love hard to grasp. Yet at this precise place, the love of Christ surpasses our limited, finite understanding the way a winning runner flies past the competition. Our knowledge, intellect, reasoning, understanding will never, not ever, be able to beat out His love. His love will always surpass what we know.
The Amazon River in Manaus
My friend Kari recently returned from a trip to the Amazon. When I asked her what her most profound moment was she explained how the Amazon is simply the most vast thing she’s ever witnessed. “I’ve never seen a more magnificent river than the Amazon”, she said. “Overlooking the river reminded me that the love of God is wider, longer, higher, and deeper still.”
And still He gives us the power to grasp it.
Guest Blog And A Few Other Things
Just a quick note to let you know that I did a guest blog for @edstetzer ‘s Thursday is for Thinkers. Today I wrote about The Gospel versus Religious Mission. If you get a chance, check out what’s going on over there and leave a thought… or two. www.edstetzer.com
It has been a whirlwind summer as I’ve been finishing up a book on the virtues entitled The Fitting Room: Putting On The Character Of Christ. It will be out in April of 2011. I say all this to let you know why I have been terribly absent from the blog. What my excuse will be for the rest of the year, I have no idea. Social media is not my strong suit.
A HUGE thank you to Beth Moore and Living Proof Ministries for their enormous blessing of facilitating the Ruth study during the Summer Siesta Bible Study. I love Beth’s teaching and am grateful for real women who live with integrity and love Jesus passionately. You get all of this with Beth and her studies and live events. And, many, many thanks to all of you who participated, as well as for your kind comments. They have been a blessing.
Off to water the flowers. They are dying in this Nashville heat!!!!
Shipping Update on Beth Moore Summer Study
Hey Everyone,
I’m sorry that I have been quite out of touch since being out of the country in Brazil, specifically on a boat cruising down the Amazon. And when I say ‘cruising’, please don’t think anything even close to a cruise ship, because the only thing the two have in common is their ability to float. Much more on what God did on our trip in posts to come…
Many of you are wondering if you can get your Ruth Study(s) from this website and how quickly they will arrive, especially in regard to Beth Moore’s summer study. Yes, you can order them here, (or get them at your local LifeWay Store). Please know that we are expediting our shipments to you so you can get your Ruth study(s) as soon as possible. If you have any questions or issues, please contact us at Minterstore@comcast.net, and we’ll get back to you right away. If you need more info on Beth’s Summer Study you can visit her blog by clicking here.
Can’t wait to share with you about my trip to the Amazon. God is so desirous to use His people to take the Gospel (and everything the Gospel means and does) to the ends of the earth. To be entrusted with the treasure of the Gospel is one of the greatest gifts God has given us. This I know.
Flooding And Devastation In Nashville
As many of you know, Nashville (and other areas) experienced widespread flooding over the weekend. Currently the sun is out, the wind is calm and the birds have returned to their morning songs. However, the wake of devastation is enormous. I am thankful to be in an area where the worst we had was running up and down our rickety basement stairs to empty buckets and trash cans of water, along with several trees down. You can see my ahead-of-its-time water catcher above, something my friend put together when suddenly water started pouring in through a loose brick. This was absolutely nothing compared to all the lost homes, and even lives, that have been lost over the past two days.
Recipe of The Month Folks!
Alright, I missed the recipe of the month in March because I got a little overwhelmed writing this book on the Christian virtues. It’s due soon, actually tomorrow, though I don’t think I’m going to quite make it – especially if I keep doing things like blog about French toast. Will let you know how it goes… Again, thank you all so much for your very helpful comments on the blog regarding the book a few months ago. They were very helpful. Alright, onto the French toast!
This is what all the people gathered around my table are eating on Easter morning. My dear friend, April, whipped it up the night before, and I’m telling you, this dish will make you a hero in your family, neighborhood, social network – wherever you need hero status. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
1/2 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
7 Eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
Egg Bread (or Italian Sweet Bread)
Directions:
Put 1/2 stick butter and 1 cup brown sugar and 2 teaspoons in bottom of 13×9 inch pan and put in oven until butter is melted. Take out of oven and mix all three ingredients together until you have a nice glaze covering the bottom of the pan. Place thick slices (1.5 inch ea.) of Egg Bread (or bread of your choice) over the glaze covering the entire dish (just one layer). Then whisk 7 eggs and 1-1/2 cups of milk together in bowl. Once whisked, pour over the bread slices in the pan. Cover and put in fridge overnight. Wake up the next morning, preheat your oven to 350 while get your coffee on… Then bake uncovered for 45 minutes.
Super easy. Delicious. Not healthy, but great for the psyche!
Hope you all are enjoying spring. Thanks for the prayers regarding this book. More to come soon…
Forgiveness
Okay, so a few months ago I posted a blog regarding the Christian virtues, or graces, that we are to “clothe” ourselves in, and your responses were very helpful – and honest, which I love. (Here’s the link if you missed it, or want to add a thought). Since then I have been writing furiously on the virtues listed in Colossians 3:12, along with a bunch of other aspects that go with how to practically put these virtues “on”. All of which will help get me to my goal of 50,000 words. Yes, writing is that romantic.
And since this book has managed to coil its tendrils around every waking moment of my consciousness I have all but ignored my blog, something my friends remind me of every day (probably because they’re the only ones who read it, or sincerely believe others do…)
So, I’m posting an excerpt on forgiveness from the book that will be out in May of 2011, if I don’t first die from staring at my computer screen. (Click the title to keep reading…)