Ephesians 3:14-21. (NIV)
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church – not that they would have some of God’s Spirit, but that they would be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God – how is that even possible? Back at the end of chapter 1 he describes the church as “the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” God in all his fullness lives in me. Not a little bit of God, not a tiny bit of God’s power, but the fullness of God in his infinite power and infinite wisdom and infinite love. And not in me only, but in every one of my brothers and sisters in Christ. We don’t ask what Christ would do if he were here in the flesh, he is here in the flesh. He’s here in my flesh, and in the flesh of every person who, by faith, belongs to Christ. We are his flesh. May we act in that knowledge and in the fullness of his Spirit!
This flows out of love. Not my love, but God’s love for me, and through me to others. To be filled with the fullness of God is to know the love that surpasses knowledge. As I am rooted in God’s love, I will have the power to understand how great his love is, and in knowing his love, I will be filled with his fullness.
I don’t get how I, a finite being, can grasp the infinite love of God. To know what surpasses knowledge. But maybe I don’t need to understand it; maybe I just need to ask for it, and to trust that God is able not only to give me what I ask for, but immeasurably more.
