Love – God’s Goal for 2011

Tom Barnard

 

“That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend

with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,

that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.”

(Ephesians 3:17-19)

 

O love that passeth knowledge, thee I need;

Pour in the heavenly sunshine; fill my heart;

Scatter the cloud, the doubting, and the dread,

The joy unspeakable to me impart.

Horatius Bonar

 

The Apostle Paul had a singular goal—he wanted to experience Christ’s love in his life. Period. He said it in different ways, but he clearly was focused on one achievement. And he wanted to convey to the Church that this love was not sentimental love, but a dynamic love—a powerful love, a growing love. It was the foundation for all other spiritual blessings. “Rooted and grounded in love” was how Paul expressed it. And what was the purpose of being grounded in the love of Jesus? Actually, there were three purposes:

 

• To comprehend the breadth, length, depth, and height of love.
• To know or to experience the love of Christ.
• To be filled with the fullness of God.

 

To discover Christ is to discover love. Not romantic love; not erotic love; not even brotherly love. The love that Christ brings into a relationship is nothing less than Divine Love. George Matheson, a Scottish poet and hymn writer of the 19^th Century, wrote these words on June 6, 1882:

 

O Love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in thee;

I give thee back the life I owe,

That in thine ocean depths its flow

May richer, fuller be.

 

Another song writer, William Cowper, wrote these words a century before Matheson wrote his:

 

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream

Thy flowing wounds supply,

Redeeming love has been my theme

And shall be till I die.

 

Heavenly Father, my soul thirsts for this redeeming love. I believe it is the rudder for spiritual growth. It points me in the direction I need to go; it stabilizes me in times of stress; it empowers me to be and to say and to do your will. I ask for this redeeming love to be the source of my spiritual strength throughout 2011. I voice this prayer in the strong Name of Jesus. Amen.