what love is this,
how deep,
and how wide;
that you would hold me;
even in my brokenness...
that you would cleanse me,
and wash me with your tears,
that you would love me
even on my darkest days, and
through my darkest moments?
+
you hold me,
cleanse me,
love me,
and though I could never earn,
or deserve this love,
you hold me, and
you'll never let me go...
what love is this,
how deep,
and how wide?
what love
is
this?
(Ephesians 3) 8-10And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!
11-13All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we're free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don't let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud!
14-19My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
sometimes the love and grace of God just needs responding to!
