SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/13/2019
7:58 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “Loves Abundance”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eph.
3:17b-19a
Message of the verses: “and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able
to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and
depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,”
I
think it would be fair to say that the last two SD’s on this section from
Ephesians 3:17b-19a have been like an introduction to these verses. As we look at the last half of verse
seventeen and then verse eighteen we could ask a question. What happens when we as believers are “rooted
and grounded in love?” The answer is
seen in verse 18 as we become “able to comprehend with all the saints what is
the breadth and length and height and dept” of love. We have to be immersed in love before we can
comprehend its fullness and it as to be the very root and ground of our
being. John MacArthur writes “When
someone asked the famed jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong to explain jazz, he
replied, ‘Man, if I got to explain it, you ain’t got it.’ In some ways that simplistic idea applies to
love. It cannot truly be understood and
comprehended until it is experienced.
Yet the experience and working of love that Paul is talking about in
this passage is not emotional or subjective.
It is not nice
feeling or warm sentiments that bring such comprehension, but the actual
working of God’s Spirit and God’s Son in our lives to produce a love that is
pure and sincere, selfless and serving.
To be ‘rooted and grounded in love’ requires being rooted and grounded
in God. When we are saved, God’s
love is ‘poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to
us’ (Rom. 5:5). It is the Lord Himself
who directs our ‘hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of
Christ’ (2 Thess. 3:5).”
Why
is love available to every Christian?
The answer is that Christ is available to every Christian. Paul writes that believers will become “able
to comprehend with all the saints” and he is not saying just the even tempered
Christian or the naturally pleasant and agreeable Christian, but “all the
saints.” He is not talking only about
some supposed special class of Christians who have an inside spiritual track
either, for it is for and also commanded of every Christian as he states “all
the Christians.”
For
this to happen to us as believers we have to be continually immersed in the
things of God and the best way to do that is to be in His Word. Jeremiah wrote “Thy words were found and I
ate them and Thy words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I
have been called by Thy name, O Lord God of hosts (Jeremiah 15:16).” Job said “I have treasured the words of His
mouth more than my necessary food” in Job 23:12. The psalmist tells us that the delight of the
righteousness person “is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates
day and night” Psalm 1:2.
As
we look at comprehending “what is the breadth and length and height and dept”
of love we will understand its fulness.
Love goes in every direction and to the greatest distance. We can see this in what God did for us by
sending His Son to earth and taking our place by dying on the cross to pay for
our sins, and know that He went all the way for us because of His great love
for us, His love was full.
We
will attempt to finish this section on love in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have a friend who demonstrates Christ’s
love by standing out in all kinds of weather talking to woman who are about to
have their babies killed through abortion.
I have begun to pray for her daily, especially on Wednesday’s as she
will be out there today sharing the love of Christ in all of its fulness to
those who believe that they have the right to commit murder. I don’t know how many babies that the Lord
has allowed her to save, but I do know that it is because of her love for the
Lord that she does what she does.
My Steps of Faith for Today: That Christ will fill me with His love today
and every day.
Today’s quote: “The wise man is he who has given himself to
Jesus Christ, and who, by the help of the Holy Spirit, keeps his intellect in
submission to the will of God.” (Spiros
Zodiates)
Bible verse that goes along with this
quote in our next SD.
2/13/2019 8:34 AM
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