Comprehending God’s Love

And I pray that you…may have power…to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ….

Ephesians 3:17-18

Accompanying a friend to a conference on domestic violence introduced me to the impact of traumatic experiences on children. A child’s brain rapidly forms during those earliest years and the unprocessed emotions of the trauma become hard-wired into their brains and creates a template for viewing life as adults.

Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians addresses similar challenges believers then, and believers now must overcome—understanding the totality of God’s love. This understanding becomes especially challenging if those believers did not experience consistent, dependable love during their early years of life.

Paul asked God for the Ephesian believers to possess power to comprehend God’s love for them. Regardless of their individual circumstances, Paul believed that with God’s grace, they would experience God’s unconditional love by receiving such an unimaginable gift.  

I especially appreciate Paul’s attempt to describe something so indescribable—how much God loves us. His spatial dimensions for representing God’s love: wide, long, high, and deep capture the limitlessness of His love. Though the ocean’s depth has since been charted, its depth still helps me contemplate the unexplored vastness of God’s love.

Father, sensitize my prayers for others to tune into their deepest need. Teach me to pray like Paul prayed as he shepherded believers to worship a living God with unlimited sacrificial love for them. Remind me as I bring the needs of others before You that You are the source of all power in their lives to accept Your love. In the name of Your Son, Your gift of love to me, I pray, amen.

Linda Lesniewski