Have you ever felt as if a sermon or Bible passage had been aimed directly at you? Imagine that you and a friend read or hear the same message that describes God’s love. Afterward, you go out for coffee or lunch and share your thoughts. How Would You Describe God’s Love?
You discover that each of you was personally impacted by the message. However, you were impacted in profoundly unique ways. God can use the same message to minister to each hearer in precisely the way each one needs. Scripture teaches that God’s Word is, “alive and active” (Hebrews 4:12).
Grasping the Depth of God’s Love
What is an example of the love of God? Ephesians chapter three challenges us to try and grasp the “width, length, height, and depth” of God’s love. Sometimes when I read this illustration, I picture Christ as the carpenter. Carefully constructing His Church, He positions each person in their proper place, at the proper time, in the proper order. He does this so that together, we support and strengthen each other as we become vessels of God’s love in a hurting world.
At other times, my heart and mind may gravitate to one particular aspect of God’s love. Over the years, each one has seemed to jump off the page at one time or another. They serve to remind me of a specific attribute of God that speaks to my heart in my current situation. Has that ever happened to you?
What are some words to describe God’s love?
Let’s circle back to Ephesians chapter three and look at the dimensions of God’s love:
- Consider length. It may remind us of God’s faithfulness. It is an awesome and humbling joy to realize that God has been, and will continue, watching over the full length of each of our lives. This begins before we are conceived, and continues through birth, life, and death–even beyond the grave!
- Width serves to remind us of God’s omnipresence. At any given moment, God is involved with every detail of our lives. Carefully orchestrating each one with perfect precision so that despite the difficulties, we might draw closer to the One who has loved us since before time began.
- The depth of God’s love may cause us to reflect on the fact that God knows us fully and completely. He knows us even better than we know ourselves. It may bring to mind the fact that Jesus was willing to leave His heavenly throne, suffer death on a cross, and be raised to life. As a result, He is able to meet us even in the darkest corners of our hearts.
- And lastly, height lovingly lures the mind and spirit of each one of us to bask in God’s holiness and sovereignty. To be reminded that He is above all things. Even so, though He created the entire universe and everything in it, the greatest object of His affection is us.
“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.” Ephesians 3:18 NLT
How about you? What attribute of God do you need today? Take a few moments to reflect on the above truths; then, praise the Lord for His great love!
Shadia is a passionate Bible teacher, author, and speaker who has a heart for seeing lives transformed by the power of God’s Word. She holds a master’s in biblical and theological studies from Western Seminary and is the author of several books and Bible studies, including HAGAR, TAMAR, LEGION, Worthy of Love and her newest study, RAHAB: Rediscovering the God Who Saves Me!
Wow! Eph 3:18 just became so much more powerful for me.