Grasp His Love

Grasp His Love

"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-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Ephesians 3:17b-19

One day I walked into Sophia's room. She was playing her CD and acting out the motions. She was listening to "The Love of Christ" by Point of Grace which is based on Ephesians 3:17b-19. The chorus simply goes like this:

How long, how wide
Is the love of Christ
How deep, how high
Is the love of Christ

Since Sophia is so full of life, the motions were not just any simple motions. She jumped on her bed. For the "long" part, she stretched her arms out front to back. For the "wide" part, she straddled her bunk bed top rail and her dresser with her legs. For the "deep" part, she bent down to touch her feet. For the "high" part, she stretched her arms in the air and touched the ceiling. I watched my beloved daughter bouncing around the room to act out this song. I just started laughing with joy! I thought how right she was. The love of Christ is worth getting excited about. The love of Christ should make us want to sing, dance, shout, and jump around!

However, many of us - even Christians - have not grasped it. In this passage from Ephesians, the Greek word for "grasp" is katalambano. It means "to lay hold of so as to make one's own, to obtain, attain to, to take into one's self; to seize upon, take possession of; to detect, catch; to lay hold of with the mind." It is the combination of two Greek words: kata and lambano. Kata simply means "down from, through out, according to, daily." Lambano means "to take, to take with the hand, lay hold of, any person or thing in order to use it; to take in order to carry away; without the notion of violence, i.e. to take what is one's own, to make one's own; to claim, of that which when taken is not let go, to seize, to receive (what is given), to gain, get, obtain, to get back."

I gave you the fullest of this definition so that it would bring to life for you the full meaning of grasping the love of Christ. You see, beloved, this love is for us to lay hold of and to take into our entire being. We need to claim this love completely. We need to receive it - daily. It is intended for us to make it our own, to use it, and to not let it go!

The most astonishing part is that we can know this love which surpasses all knowledge. This means that His love is bigger than our minds can handle. His love is mind-blowing. It is bigger than the human mind, the knowledge at the best university or medical research center. His love is immeasurable. It has no limits. It is a natural human tendency to be drawn to someone who greatly loves us. When we begin to grasp the vastness of His love, we are compelled to be near Him. We develop intimacy with God. We build a relationship and build a life together.

This love will carry you and me through the darkest points of our lives. When we feel alone, we cling to this love and know that He will be the faithful friend who will never leave us. When we are afraid, we trust in this love that is unchanging and will not fail us. When we are in pain, we hold on to this love that comforts us and heals us.

There is no pit deep enough that the love of Christ is not deeper. You cannot have wandered so far from God that the love of Christ cannot find you a long, long way from home. There is no breach wide enough that the love of Christ can't reach you. There are no giants high enough that the love of Christ is not higher still.

Before I had God, I searched for love in all the wrong places. I was lonely. Now I know that I just wanted Him. I realize that it was just a hole that I had in my life without Him. Now that He has filled this hole, I live completely different. I don't seek unconditional and unfailing love from my friends, family, and my husband. I don't expect from them what they can't give and what only God can give me. It releases them, and it has freed me.

Since I know what it was like to live without the love of Christ, I can now detect it in people. I recognize people, even Christians, who have not been filled with His love. People who have been filled with the love of Christ are not needy. They don't cling to others because they are clinging to God. They don't have guarded hearts to protect them from people hurt by others. They have already been accepted by the One who knows their every thought, word, and action - even before they do it! They have been filled so much with this staggering love that it overflows out of them and spills onto the people around them.

Oh, beloved, are you grasping His love yet? Are you letting it fill you? Are you letting it change your life? Is this truth tearing down the lies of the enemy? Are you demonstrating it so others can visibly see it? Let's commit for you and me to live a life that demonstrates this love just like Sophia does. Let's have a spirit that dances and sings for joy over this great love that we have!

Pray with me: Oh, Jesus, it is staggering how much You love us. We can't comprehend how big it is. It is hard for us to grasp the fullness of how much You love us, but help us to grasp more and more every day how wide, long, high, and deep is Your love. Then Holy Spirit, fill us with this love. We desire to know the truth about this love. This truth will set us free and make us sing and dance like Sophia does. Rid us of neediness. Free our loved ones from our unrealistic expectations. Help us to understand that only You can fill the deepest needs of our hearts.

You are all that we have ever wanted in our entire lives. We fellowship together. You talk with us. You enjoy us even more than we enjoy being with You. We can never outgive You even though we try to give You all of us. You seem to always give us more. It's in the Name above all names, in Jesus' Name, Yeshua's Name, we pray. Amen.