35. How Wide and Long and High and Deep
R
[I pray] that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. 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, and to know this love that surpasses
knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness
of God.
Ephesians 3:17–19T
HEREis something huge and powerful going on in these three
verses—so much so, in fact, that Paul was wrestling with a
sense of frustration.
To the people of Ephesus (and to us, the Christians who have fol-
lowed behind them) he was saying, “Listen! You’re going to need
every ounce of faith you’ve got to wrap your mind around what I’m
about to tell you. You’re going to have to open the door of your
hearts as wide as they will possibly go and invite Jesus to move in—
lock, stock, and barrel—or you’re going to miss it.
“Get rooted and grounded, church,” he was saying. “Get estab-