A power not our own

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these. (George Washington Carver)

...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. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:18-19)

We cannot know the full depth or breadth of God's love. It is something that transcends human imagination. We can learn of his love, appreciate how it works, and then seek to participate in that love more and more each day. We cannot neglect it, for God's love has done great things on our behalf already. We shall not escape it, for God's love is a seeking and tenacious force. We can enter into it - becoming more and more discontented with any 'false love' that touts itself as 'better', 'best', or 'worth more' than his love for us. It isn't until we experience the love of God that all other 'love' pales in comparison. We may have thought we knew what love 'is' or 'does', but when we see what God's love actually has done and continues to do on our behalf, we learn love is really a person - Christ Jesus.

So many times, we seek to be 'completed' by something or someone on this earth. We call this 'being in love' with another, or being 'dedicated to' a particular object or process. We will never find 'completion' in those things or individuals, though. We can only find the love we seek when we turn our eyes fully toward Christ, welcoming him into our hearts, and allowing him to heal our hurts and deal with our hangups in that love he brings. Our 'completion' isn't found in an object - it is found in a relationship with him. Too many times, we allow 'religious pursuit' to be a lousy substitute for really knowing him as we should. Whenever our 'passion' is the pursuit of mere 'religious' things, we miss the relationship we so desperately require.

We go through phases in life - from a wee newborn to an aging adult. None of these 'phases' is without purpose. In much the same way, we go through 'phases' in our relationship with Jesus - each serving a purpose we may not fully understand. We grow warm, then cooler, then warm again - almost without even noticing when the coolness first enters in. As we 'grow in Christ', our appreciation of the depth, breadth, and width of his love begins to dawn. What we do in the times of 'great growth' determines what will keep us in times of 'lean growth'. To really know the fullness of his life and power within, we will experience both. It is by leaning into his love that we begin to walk in a power not our own. Just sayin!