Ephesians 3:17-19, “I pray that Christ will live in your hearts by faith and that your life will be strong in love and be built on love. And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is. Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with the fullness of God.”
February is a time we place a lot of focus on love and defining love. What is love? Can you measure love? Some focus love on how many days, months, or years they've been together. Others measure love in the gifts or things they get. Each of us have a love language that fits our personality and helps us in relationships when used effectively.
As Christians we want to share love, we want to love like God loves, and we want others to know God's love for them. In 1 John 4 we begin to learn how true God's love is and when we study the Bible we can see and begin to understand God's perfect love and how His love is unmeasurable and endless. Today we are going to look more closely at some words of Paul's found in Ephesians, on the true measure of God's love.
1. God's love is wide- Galatians 3:28, John 3:16-17
God so love the world. God's love is so wide it encompasses the entire world, everyone- all sinners. God doesn't look at race, color, wealth, or status. He loves the world and desires that everyone comes to repentance and have the hope of salvation. God's love has no limits!
2. God's love is long- Psalm 117:1-2, Lamentations 3:22-23
Our worldly thoughts always lead us to wonder in any relationship, ‘how long will this last’. In our minds we can find it hard to believe that anything lasts or endures forever. But this is exactly what God promises. Since we were created, even before the foundation of the world, He has loved us, each generation no matter how many times we fall or fail Him. His love endures and will last forever!
3. God's love is high- Psalm 36:5-7a, Psalm 108:4
Height isn’t simply how tall something is. It also means to the utmost of something, to the highest level. God's love exceeds anything we will ever know. This is the love expressed when He sent His Son down to us to live with us, and then Jesus was again seated in the Heavens with His Father caring for us and protecting us. One thing we can be sure of, God's love will never let us down!
4. God's love is deep- Romans 5:6-8, Ephesians 2:4-5
The depth of God's love is shown by the depth of our sin that Jesus took upon Himself to free us when He not only left Heaven to live on this earth but then died on the cross for us. This is not a shallow or superficial love, this is deep, true love. To love is to care, and to love deeply is to care deeply. God loves deeply and, in His love, He also forgives deeply and no matter how bad we fail or how far we go from Him, He loves us and welcomes us to His loving arms, always- John 1:9.
Let us not reject God's love. Let God dwell in your hearts through faith, and in everything always be rooted in love. Recognize God's greatness of love and love Him in return.
Let me encourage you today with some Bible reading. Instead of plowing through a few verses and then speeding off to work, slow it down. Instead of laboring through the whole Bible in a year, go a little deeper. Instead of reading your Bible simply to check it off the chore list, change your mental approach—change your philosophy. Instead, take a longer view of learning your Bible—two, three, five, or even seven years. Make your end goal not merely to read the Bible but to know and understand it—to love and treasure it as God’s holy, sufficient, transforming Word. Let's finish Philemon today ready verses 18-25.
Study 3, Philemon 18-25- https://www.docdroid.net/YR5qsws/study-3-docx
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