Cleansing Stream Ministries
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How Do You Measure Gods Love?

"... that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."  Ephesians 3:17-19 (NKJV)

Do you want to be filled with the fullness of God?  Most Christians that I know do.  You'll hear precious few sermons though, that pin that blessing to comprehending and knowing the dynamics of the love of Christ.  But here it is - before our eyes in Ephesians chapter 3.

The apostle Paul is striving to explain that our passion should be to embrace as much of the love of Jesus Christ possible.  It is not enough to say that we must seek to know that love - we need to understand it in all of its dimensions - and He gives us four - width, length, height, and depth.  Let's explore these.

When I think of the width of His love, I'm reminded of just how encompassing it is.  He loves the lovely and the unlovely.  He appeals to the lowly and the lofty - the lepers and the likeable.  His love extends to those we detest and those in whom we delight.  He challenges our sense of propriety.  And when everyone else walks out, He walks in.  What kind of yardstick can you use to measure that kind of love?  Here's how wide it is - as far as the east is from the west.

How about the length?  This certainly speaks of endurance.  When we're ready to give up, He's just getting started.  His love endures forever.  It goes beyond the horizon of our imagination.  His love is stubborn - He refuses to stop loving us.  Into the night and through the storms - beyond our failures and much further than our faults, His love persists and prevails.

And Oh, the depth of His love!  How dark is your storm? How deep is your pit?  His love is deeper still.  If you're at the bottom of a well and trying to find God, you don't need look far - He's right next to you.  The deep also speaks of mysteries.  Like a treasure that hides its most precious gems in the depth, so is His love.  Haven't you discovered that it is in the hard times, the times of deep loneliness, pain and heartache that we discover the intimate times with God?  His light shines brightest in the night time.

What is the height of His love?  His mercies are higher than the heavens.  How high are the heavens?  There are over a hundred billion stars (suns) in our galaxy.  Each star is multiple light years away - some thousands of light years.  One light year is 186,000 miles per second traveling for 365 days.  There are an estimated 100 billion galaxies.  Please tell me, if you can how high that is.  His love is higher, loftier, and greater still.

So here's your task for a lifetime - comprehend it.

Chris Hayward
President, Cleansing Stream Ministries

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,  nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 8:38-39 (NKJV)