Love is supposed to be the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Jesus said the whole idea of the Old Testament law is summed up in Loving God with everything and loving your neighbor as yourself. I don’t know how many times I have heard that, but I would put it up into the thousands. Sometimes it’s so easy to hear something so much you actually think you know it. Knowing something experientially and knowing something via a knowledge transfer is a whole different ball game. Would you rather follow someone into battle that was top in their class at West Point with no combat experience, or a five time tour of duty combat veteran? I’ll get behind the veteran please. Well, there are a lot of similarities when it comes to talking about the love of God. Sure millions of people can quote these scriptures and the 1 Corinthians love passage is read at almost every wedding. So this brings me to ask….. Have you experienced the Love of God? Are you continually experiencing His love? I propose that we need to be five time tour veterans of His love…..it’s the only way to roll. Check out what Ephesians 3: 14-19 says as Paul prays for the Ephesian believers…
14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
This is a pretty cool prayer that Paul drops right here… that our roots will grow down into Gods Love and that we will experience the love of Christ. We all need a root system that is anchored in something immovable.
We recently bought our first house and it was an exciting adventure. The back yard had three large mesquite trees along the back fence. The week before we moved in a storm hit and the middle tree just fell right over. So we had the fallen tree cut up and moved out the day we moved in the new house. Since then I have done some yard work and I discovered the root system to that fallen tree running all over the back yard only about six inches under the dirt. Sure, it looked like it was stable but, when a storm came…boom…its only good use now is to smoke some BBQ.
Likewise, it is the same in my life. Let me tell you, as a believer, I have been hit with some storms that have taken me out for awhile. As I reflect, it seems during those times I seemed to have lost touch with the Love of God. Sure, I understood God loved me, but my heart was not connected with the knowledge in my head. This walk had become a religious exercise and there is no life in religion. Keep your rules please…. I want real Life. I want real Love. Shoot…I want something Real. Don’t you….I know the answer…We All Do.
It’s so easy now to launch into a message about the immense Love of Jesus and the fact he not only forgives but does an amazing job as a Restorer. But let me tell you about a time when God rocked my world and I experienced the love of God. I was nineteen and had just moved to Waco Texas. I was young with no direction and I hated God…or what I thought God was. My father was a pastor and I was the typical preacher’s kid….and I thought Christians were the biggest hypocrites. I remember renouncing God in my bedroom at the age of seventeen…just a little angry. Well…my dad knew this guy who was a Trucker, loved God, and when he prayed things happened. Yep…you heard right… God used a trucker to blow my mind. Long story short…this guy prayed for me…and I have never felt anything like that in my life. I literally felt waves of electricity pulsing through my body and it seemed like I was bathed in a sea of real tangible Love. I had lived my life in so much anger and rebellion and this God (whom I had renounced) encountered me with Love. Wow…He Loves me. Its real….it’s as real as anything I have ever encountered. I have never been the same since. I have had ups and downs have tried to run from God but the fact of the matter is…..I have NEVER been the same since.
If you are reading this, it’s my prayer and desire that you experientially know this Great and Good Love of God for yourself. If you want a place to start why don’t you pray the prayer above out of Ephesians for yourself. We all need a fresh fix…and I am addicted…to God’s Love.
