So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17–19, ESV)
This week’s verse is a continuation of last week’s verse. This verse is a little longer than other Verses of the Week, but it is hard to find a breaking point in the middle of this rich text.
The verse begins with the Apostle Paul’s prayer that Christ would dwell in our hearts. It is not a matter of us taking hold of Christ, but it is a matter of him living in us and taking residence in our hearts. The relationship is received through faith.
This is the solid foundation that Jesus speaks of in the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 7:24–27). It is being the tree planted by streams of living water that is described in Psalm 1 and was a previous verse of the week.
As we become more and more grounded in Jesus, we experience more and more the breadth, length, height, and depth of his love. This love surpasses knowledge. It is not something we can grasp or comprehend from reading it in a book. It is not something we can put our heads around by listening to a sermon. It comes through experiencing the Holy Spirit’s dwelling presence that reveals Jesus in our hearts.
The fullness of God. There is nothing like it. To know, see, live, experience, sense, feel, taste, and possess God more! What greater prayer could we pray?
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