I have a degree in Industrial and Management Engineering from Montana State University in Bozeman (Go Cats!). Several of the courses I had to take were very challenging and difficult to wrap one’s mind (mine at least) around—like calculus for example! But through many, many hours of studying I was successful in passing those courses. PTL!
I have discovered since that time that those challenging concepts were nothing compared to some of the deep teachings of God’s Word such as the sovereignty of God versus the free will of man, the Tri-unity of the Godhead, or how Jesus was both fully God and fully man at the same time. Unfortunately since our finite minds cannot comprehend an infinite God, we have the tendency to bring God down to a place where we can understand and explain and even control Him. This has resulted in all sorts of false teaching and cults which have ignored or distorted the clear teachings of Scripture.
We can definitely identify with what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then (in heaven) I shall know fully, just as I also have been fully known (by God)” (I Cor. 13:12). One day Jesus will come for His Church and will “transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory…” (Phil. 3:20). “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet…the dead in Christ will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (I Cor. 15:51). The Apostle John writes: “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is” ( Jn. 3:2). Until that time, our minds will continue to struggle to comprehend the infiniteness of our God.
Maybe one of the “deepest” concepts to grasp concerning our amazing God is the depth of His love for us. Paul, prayed this for the believers at Ephesus: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Eph. 3:17b-18 NIV). God loved us so much that He sent His Son to give His life to pay the penalty for the sins of the world (Jn. 3:16). Jesus suffered torture and death by crucifixion on our behalf, bearing the wrath of God against our sin, and at any point could have “called ten thousand angels to destroy the world and set Him free, but He died alone for you and me.” “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Ro. 5: 8). “By this the love of God was manifest in us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (satisfaction) for our sins” (I Jn. 4:9,10).
Because of God’s love for us, demonstrated by Christ dying in our place, when we put our trust in Him for salvation, we stand before God justified—just as if we had never sinned—because Jesus bore those sins in His body on the cross (I Pet. 2:24; II Cor. 5:21). He didn’t just cover our sins, but, as the Lamb of God, put them away (Jn. 1:29). “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psa. 103:12). “For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back” (Isa. 38:17). “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; and will not remember your sins” (Isa. 45:25). He has cast our sins “into the depths of the sea” (Mic. 7:19). The deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean is the Puerto Rico Trench at 27,493 feet. In the Pacific Ocean, the deepest location is the Mariana Trench which is 36,070 feet deep! Mt. Everest towers above sea level some 29,029 feet. How amazing is our God! His love for us—demonstrated by removing our sins—is even deeper and higher than these!
How would it change our lives if we could really grasp the depth of Christ’s love? We believe in order to be saved, but are we walking fully in His love? If we completely believe that we are deeply loved, we will not feel empty, fearful, anxious, or lonely. And His love will overflow to others because we are filled with His fullness. That was Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians and one we can pray for one another today. Lord, empower us today to grasp the width, length, height and depth of you unfailing, unconditional agape love. Amen!
“O the deep, deep love of Jesus—Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free! Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me. Underneath me, all around me, is the current of His love—leading onward, leading homeward, to my glorious rest above” (O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus by Thomas J. Williams).
Forever in His Love,
Pastor Dave
Wisdom of The Week 