There is a true story that while excavating the ruins of Pompeii the engineers found the preserved form of a woman holding a baby in her arms. Investigating further, they discovered an insignia, worn by the baby. This insignia indicated the baby was of the peasant class. The woman also had an insignia, but hers showed that she was a member of the nobility class. Why were these two together? They reasoned that the woman would have escaped the approaching wall of molten lava if she had run at a normal pace. But she must have seen a helpless baby that had been abandoned. It was possible that her instinctive love went out to the baby and she stopped long enough to grab the baby. The surmise was that because she stopped, plus the added weight of the baby, this slowed her pace enough that they were overtaken by the wall of molten lava. This woman and child were perfectly encased, with the woman’s loving arms around the baby. This is a faint picture of God reaching from His divinity to the level of humanity and enfolding humans in His everlasting arms of love.
John 3:16 CSB – “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
Paul describes dimensions of God’s love in his prayer in Ephesians 3. “I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” ~ Ephesians 3:17-19 CSB
“My prayer is this: that he will lay out all the riches of his glory to give you strength and power, through his spirit, in your inner being; 17 that the Messiah may make his home in your hearts, through faith; that love may be your root, your firm foundation; 18 and that you may be strong enough (with all God’s holy ones) to grasp the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the Messiah’s love—though actually it’s so deep that nobody can really know it! So may God fill you with all his fullness.”~ Ephesians 3:16-19 NTFE
“And I pray that He would unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power. (17) Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of His love will become the very source and root of your life. (18-19). Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences – the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is His love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding – this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!” ~ Ephesians 3:16-19 TPT
We see this dimensional love in the John 3:16:
The breadth (width) of God’s love is that He embraces the whole world. John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world”
The dimension of length is that God will go to all lengths in His love. He even went to the length of relinquishing His most prized possession – “that He gave His one and only Son”. This is a love that gives without reservation.
The dimension of depth illustrates that God goes into the deepest depths of mud to rescue the vilest sinner. He rescues the “whosoever’s”. “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who (whosoever) believes in Him…”
A preacher named Mendell Taylor tells in his book called “Everyday with Jesus” a story of bringing a message to what he calls a “skid-row mission”. When he gave the invitation at the end of his message, a ragged, disheveled man staggered down the aisle to kneel at the altar. Mendell tells how he prayed for this man, but kept his distance, thinking of germs and diseases. He says that “long distance praying for him brought no return.” The Lord convicted Mendell: “If I think enough of him to knock at his heart’s door, you should think enough of him to kneel by his side and encourage him to go My way.” Mendell said he got down and crawled closer to the man and reached out and put his hand on the man’s head. It was if an invisible hand was placed on this man’s heart. Almost instantaneously the man pulled out a bottle of whiskey and said, “I have been doing what this bottle told me to do. From now on, I’ll do what the Lord tells me to do.” He got up from the altar and walked out of the building, saved and sober. The depth of God’s love is for “whosoever.”
The height of God’s love is so high that it transcends the limits of time and leaps into the endless eternity. This is everlasting love into everlasting life. “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
Paul’s prayer is that those he was writing to would be filled to overflow with that love. Jesus said: “This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.” John 15:12
Whatever the magnitude of Christ’s love to us, that is the measure we are to have for one another. This love that surpasses understanding.
His love for us, is in us when we allow Him preeminence in our lives. He loves through us when we love one another. We can also love “in spite of”. We love in spite of what the other person does with our love. The only remedy for hate is love. Love – especially “in spite of” love – is the most convincing ID badge a Christian can wear. Others know “we are Christians by our love” because there’s no other way to explain this kind of love. God’s love for us, in us, through us, and “in spite of” surpasses understanding.
Prayer: Oh, Lord! I am so grateful for the kind of love You demonstrated for me – from the cross. But not only from that once-and-for-all event, You continue to demonstrate that kind of love for me! It would be easy just to stay in this space – reveling and marveling at Your love for me! Yet, You call me to love, as You have loved me. I can’t do this on my own; it’s only through Your infilling and Your Holy Spirit’s empowerment. Give me more love, Lord, and empower me to love “vertizontally” – loving You, self, and others.
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Thank you for yet another dimension of God’s boundless, enduring and far-reaching love that directs us to love likewise. Thank also for your prayer.
Thank you!