Measureless Love

“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 3:17-19

One of the greatest mysteries of God is His measureless love for us. We just can’t wrap our human brains around it. He loved us even before we were born. He loved us when we were in our Terrible Twos. He loved us through the good, the bad and the ugly actions and attitudes of our teenage years and yes, He loves us still. He loves us when we’re grumpy before our morning coffee, He loves us when we’re doing everything right and, oddly enough, He loves us even when we’ve completely blown it. Oh, how I long to love the way my Heavenly Father does!
Human love is so imperfect. We try to love others, but we are hopeless without Him. We need His Holy Spirit to fill us up, and love through us. On our own, we size each other up. We look to see if we, like we learned in elementary math, fit into the “Greater than,” “Less than,” or “Equal to” category. It is in our human nature to compare ourselves with others. Whether it is in our human nature or not, it can be a very unhealthy habit to develop.
Comparison almost always leads to problems. Either we feel that we come up short or someone else does. Nothing in scripture suggests that God sees us through eyes like that, so we must be very deliberate not to fall into that trap ourselves. God just loves His kids. We may see our weaknesses, but God is looking at our strengths. We may criticize others, but God’s heart is tender and compassionate towards all of us. He doesn’t have a favorite child. He loves each of us so very much. And, even though His love is all-encompassing, He is also very personal.
The love of God is the love that reaches for the highest good. When we are filled up with Him, we are empowered to love the way He does. We’ll be able to look at a person, no matter what their weaknesses are, no matter what their strengths are and always ask, “What is the greatest good I can do for this person?” In turn, we will also learn to see ourselves through God’s loving eyes. Instead of being self-critical or self-loathing, we’ll actually be able to recognize God’s creativity and favor in our lives. The transforming love of God is such a remarkable thing. I pray each of us will continually experience it like never before.