Paul's Request Part 3-- Love's Dimensions

Working through the prayer Paul offers in Ephesians 3 we now find ourselves at the third "I ask."

"I ask that you'll have the power to grasp love's width and length, height and depth, together with all believers." -- Eph. 3:18 (CEB)

Paul has reminded us that every ethnic group in heaven and earth are included before God, then strength from the Spirit of God, followed by asking that Christ would dwell in our hearts and we would be rooted in love. Now the ask is for us to have the power to grasp love's dimensions. Before looking at the dimensions it is important to note the who. The Common English Bible uses the word you'll which can be confusing as the contraction could mean you all, or you will. A little research helps see the most likely intent is you all. Meaning this is a collective, or community plea. That together all God's people, you know every ethnic group in heaven and earth, would have the power to grasp love's dimensions.

The Power? This is not based on human reason or striving. It is not even about doing all kinds of research and going back to the original languages etc. None of those things are bad but they are incomplete. The power Paul is referring to here is the same power earlier in the pray, the power of the Spirit of God. Perhaps it is a limitation only to me, I don't think so, but I do not have the power, capacity, or ability to grasp the dimensions of love. I need something, someone, greater than me, and that is found in the Spirit of God.

It is safe to say outside the Spirit of God my understanding of the width, length, height, and depth of love will be too small. The desire is not to only know love as I understand it, rather as the Spirit of God invites me to understand. Not only me individually either, this prayer is for the people of God. The grasping of love's dimensions is an invitation to be together with all believers. In community with other believers and lead by the Spirit of God is the only way we can understand the full dimensions of love.

This highlights a two part equation. First, we need to be in community, which has felt very different over the last two months. Yes, we have been navigating COVID-19 for two months now. It may look different due to circumstances but we need community to be healthy and whole. Second, only through the Jesus do we have a chance to understand love. Let me be more clear, outside of following Jesus it is impossible to know the full dimensions of love. Ironically, and tragically, when we bring community and followers of Jesus together love is not always the product. I wonder if Paul's prayer was less about understanding love, and more about understanding the fullness of life for communities?

Paul's Request, Part 2. Who is Leading Your Heart?

Now we enter into part 2 of the series. I am looking at Ephesians 3:14-19, and the prayer Paul offers for the church in Ephesus and us today. First Paul expressed his prayer that we would be strengthened in our inner self through the power of the Spirit. Next the pray moves to:

"I ask that Christ will live in your hearts through faith. As a result of having strong roots in love." Eph. 3:17 (CEB)

Over the past few weeks many of us might have been paying more attention to where and with whom we live. Other than the occasional walk, I have not really left my house in over three weeks, and it has been five weeks now that our entire household has been home nearly 24/7. I am so grateful to have a place to call home, and to have it contain enough space that we can each have our little corner of refuge when needed. At the same time having everyone home has meant learning some new rhythms coupled with new patience. All of a sudden we are not able to do what we want on the timetable we want to do it. Living together in this constant relationship requires adaptation and submitting to the greater good of the dwelling.

This brings me to the prayer asking Christ to live in our hearts through faith. It is by faith, not will, might, or determination, that Christ takes up residence in our heart. It will not be through having all the questions answered, or having all the conditions met. The faith is that Christ knows better how to run the household of my heart than I do, especially when I do not see things the way Jesus does. By faith I invite Jesus to move into my heart and allow my normal functions to be disrupted. Christ living in my heart means I do not always get to do things my way.

How is any of this possible? That too is part of Paul's prayer. Christ living in my heart is a result of having strong roots in love. Other translations have used the language of being deeply rooted in love. Okay, so that is clear, we just need to have strong roots of love and we are all good. After all wasn't it the Beatles who sang, "All you need is love." Perhaps having strong roots is not as easy as we often make out to be in this day and age. I have heard it said many time we need to let love lead the way, or that we as the church must be more loving. I do not disagree with either of those statements. Only, they do not seem complete, there needs to be more deeper conversation about love.

Love has come to be equated with permission. The highest form of love in our current culture is to permit someone to live their life however they see fit, as long as it does not restrict another person's pursuit of how they would life their life. Essentially the only unloving action left in our culture is to say or suggest that someone might be pursuing a life that will forfeit the fullness God has for them. It seems we have reached the place where we as people have become the arbiters of love rather than allowing Christ to determine the condition of our heart.

That is the connection I see in what Paul shares. If we are strongly rooted in love, it is not love that comes from human perspective. It is not love that says live however you want. It is not love that says you must live the way I say. Strongly rooted, deeply rooted love, is the love that says I have faith that Jesus knows better than I do how to run my life. This type of love has enough faith in Jesus to allow Jesus to do the work in my heart that is needed for me to experience immeasurably more than I could every ask or imagine (nod to Eph. 3:20). Perhaps rather than let love lead, we need to let Jesus lead, and that leading with strongly root us in love, and then Christ will live in our hearts by faith?

Paul's Request, Part 1

Since the beginning of the stay at home time I have been camped in the book of Ephesians. Honestly I have seemed to be spending a lot of time there over the last year. My practice has been to read one chapter a day with pencil in hand to mark and highlight areas causing me to pause. This week I was reading through chapter 3 and I became captured by verses 14-19. I usually skip my attention to 20-21, as those verses have become very important to my calling. But Ephesians 3:14-19 is Paul sharing what he is praying for in regards to the people of Ephesus. In the Common English Bible, there are four "I ask" statements to Paul's prayer.

"This is why I kneel before the Father. Every ethnic group in heaven or on earth is recognized by him. I ask that he will strengthen you in your inner selves from the riches of his glory through the Spirit. I ask that Christ will live in your hearts through faith. As a result of having strong roots in love, I ask that you’ll have the power to grasp love’s width and length, height and depth, together with all believers. I ask that you’ll know the love of Christ that is beyond knowledge so that you will be filled entirely with the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:14-19 emphasis mine)

I could not escape these verses, so I thought I would take a few blog entries and engage the text. Today I will focus on the first "I ask", in the next entries I will address the other three. Before the first "I ask" however we cannot miss the opening to the prayer. Paul reminds the readers and us that it is before God that he kneels to pray, and that every ethnic group in heaven or on earth is recognized by God. Did you catch that, every ethnic group in all of creation is recognized by God, and if recognized by God, the people are of value to God. This prayer, our faith is not intended to be an Anglo-centric, European based, faith, rather it is for all of creation. Paul's prayer is not only for people that look like him, or like me, or you, but for all of creation, every ethnic group in heaven or on earth.

Now to the first "I ask". Paul prays, "I ask that he will strengthen you in your inner selves from the riches of his glory through the Spirit."  Wow is this a timely prayer! We have been navigating some trying times over the last 40 some days. If you are anything like me this has been a time filled with all kinds of emotions, challenges, fears, boredom, and anxiety. Scrolling through the various news feeds offers many reasons for despair and depression. It could be easy to see the world as headed for destruction. I don't know about you but that wears on my very soul.

The other day I was asked how I am doing and the only answer I could offer was weary. Then I read Paul's prayer. He is asking God to grant to you and me strength in our inner selves. As much as they are helpful, Paul's request of God is not through the work of the latest psychology, not through the latest self-help reading, not even through video conferencing. Our inner selves are strengthened from the riches and glory of God, through the work of the Spirit.

What this means for me, that I totally do not like, is that I cannot do the work of strengthening on my own. I do not have the capacity to strengthen my inner self, it requires the work of the Spirit with provision from the riches and glory of God. If I am going to navigate this weary time in our history, I will need to admit I need the work of the Spirit in my life. I need God to strengthen my inner self, so that I may live the life God intends for me in Christ Jesus.

For me this means I am stealing Paul's prayer. I am asking God to strengthen my inner self from the riches and glory of God through the Spirit. I am also stealing it and saying it for you. Perhaps you would consider joining me.

Beyond a Return to Normal

We have a strange relationship with normal. Bumper stickers have lamented why be normal? Others have quipped, "Normal is only a setting on the dryer." At the same time there is an invitation to claim a sense of what is normal in our lives. Granted, what is normal for one person might be far from normal for another, there is still a pull toward normal.

In these days I get the sense of people craving for things to return to normal. Meaning, the way they were before COVID-19 disrupted all that feels normal. The life when we could come and go as we pleased. When we could visit our favorite restaurant and sit there in conversation for hours. Return to the days with children in school. Return to attending church in person each week. Basically, returning to life as we had come to know it as normal.

The struggle I am having with normal is what I take for granted during times of normal. Many of the things listed above are on the list for sure, however there are some more important items. It is easy to take for granted the opportunity to be in community with other people thinking that opportunity will always be there. I can easily think of some of the hopes and dreams and the way normal helps me delay the chasing of those dreams thinking I will always have another season to chase those dreams. Perhaps a more challenging and provocative question normal helps me evade is the question of purpose, am I fulfilling the purpose for which I have been created? For those reading who are Christ followers, this is the question of calling. Am I truly living my calling or am I just working a job to maintain normalcy in my life?

Normal demands we do not ask profound questions about existence and need for community. It begs questions geared at preservation, protection, and predictability, (Isn't alliteration fun). What if we have entered a situation that is providing an opportunity to go beyond normal? Many reading this are facing what most likely will be weeks of non-normal living. Many will be given the gift of time to consider life. We are being given an opportunity to quite the call of normal in order to listen for the invitation of God. This is beyond some quite time in the morning. This disruption of normal has afforded the opportunity to seek God in a deeper way often seized.

What if this season is the season you and I will claim our what if? I am hoping when the all clear is given and we are free to move about the country, gather in community, work in ways other than a remote desktop, that we will go beyond normal. The prayer for my life, you, the church, and the world, is that we would never be the same again.

In this season of social distancing it might feel like it is hard to talk with someone about this. If you would like to chat send me a message and we can set up a phone call or a zoom video call.

Uncharted Waters

A quick run through the newsreel shows we live in times that most of us have not experienced. That is not to say we are living in times that have never happened before. A long look at history shows there may have been challenges like this at several points along the long arc of history. Yet, for so many of us we have not had the experiences we are currently living through.

So why in the world would this be the time to launch a new venture like a blog? In a time when so many people are pulling back, retreating, or simply holding on, I say it is the perfect time to advance. Uncharted waters call to me. When there is chaos, uncertainty, great challenge, and what feels like pending doom, God is hard at work. Let's not get into the crazy thinking that God is causing COVID-19, or any of the other challenges. That is just plain bad theology and horrible thinking that only serves our own bias. As to why is all this happening in our world today, I can confidently say, I have no idea. Many factors have come together to reveal the state of humanity while at the same time leaving an opportunity to experience God in a fresh way.

No, God did not cause all the struggle in the world to happen, however God will not miss the opportunity to draw the hearts and lives of humanity closer. Growing closer to God can feel like uncharted waters for some. Others it might feel like returning to waters once left behind. Regardless, I am confident the God of all the universe, the God who created everyone and everything, is not sitting at a distance hoping things will work out. God is engaged in the midst of the struggle and strife through ordinary people like you and me, as well as in supernatural ways that defy human explanations.

That brings the answer to the question why a new blog now. In this journey called life it is easy to focus on everything happening and lose connection with God. Whether it is in a relationship, a really good meal, the community of faith called the church, or just the ups and downs of life, God is present in our reality. This blog is offered as a conversation partner in the journey. Posts will be wide ranging from walking with Jesus to an amazing meal, marriage and friendship to times of solitude. From time to time there might even be some guest writers. Use the comments to share topics or questions you would like to see addressed.

Even if there have been times like this in the history of people, we are in uncharted waters from my lifetime. I have a hunch I am not alone. Welcome to the journey, and I hope you will engage in the conversation as we make our ways along the path of life.