Receiving God's Love

Most of you who are reading this will undoubtedly remember the childhood song: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so..." In my adult years I have struggled with message of that song.

In my estimation, there is only a certain level of truth in those words. There is a season in our walk with God where that level of truth is sufficient…but we can’t stay there. You see, simply knowing in our mind (as the song suggests) a stated truth does not mean that we have received it. I would even go so far as to say that believing a stated truth does not mean that we have fully received it. I remember taking a class on counseling in college that utilized case studies as a means of learning principles to apply in real life counseling situations. These brief scenarios challenged us to examine the possible meanings behind what was being described, to find clues in the story that might reveal the real problem, and pick up on wrong perceptions held by different characters.

One case study in particular dealt with a husband and wife scenario where the woman claimed her husband didn't love her anymore. The counselor asks the husband if this was true to which he replied heartily "NO!" So the counselor turns to the wife and asks what the husband had done to make her feel that way. Her response was "he never tells me that he loves me anymore...” at which point the husband chimes in with "I told you I loved when I married you. Wasn't that good enough?" Who was wrong here? Well, before you jump all over the husband let me suggest that they are both partially to blame. You see the husband should have been more vocal about his love and considerate of his wife's need for consistent vocal affirmation. Some people's primary avenue for being shown love is through vocal affirmation. On the other hand maybe the wife should have communicated her need to him many years prior (she may have and then gave up, which would be grounds for examining the husband's responsibility more...but this isn't counseling class).

One the other hand, the mistake the wife makes is that she failed on some level to recognize and "receive" the other expressions of love her husband possibly showed to her (providing, care, gifts, affection, faithfulness, etc.) We all need some form of affirmation; nevertheless it can't be overlooked that someone can say "I Love You" a million times a day, but the proof of that love is seen in real acts of love. We often fall short of truly receiving God's love, because we have become accustomed to hearing that truth stated to us, and in our minds we have stopped there. "The Bible says it, so I believe it and that settles it" becomes our mantra. Just tell me God loves me again, and I’ll be fine. Is this what Paul meant when he prayed for the Ephesians in chapter 3 that they would "be rooted and grounded in love...knowing the height, depth, width, and breadth of the love of God"? Is there nothing more to receiving God's love than an intellectual conviction that leads to a conscious belief? Remember, Ephesus was a church of great accomplishment that had left behind its “first love” (Revelation 2).

A Word About Receiving
Webster defines RECEIVE as “to come into possession of”. By definition, to receive something is to possess it…holding it in your hands, seeing it with your eyes; in a word experiencing it by encountering it first hand. Even as I write these words some of the old cobwebs of theology blow through my mind: “But faith believes in what you can’t see.” “Faith doesn’t need tangible experience in order to exist and faith is all that God requires of us.” The problem with understanding faith as a belief in what you can’t see is that it prevents us from walking in the reality of what we say we have faith in. This is the point that troubled Martin Luther, father of the Reformation, when he would read James chapter 2. He wanted James taken out of the Bible because he couldn’t reconcile “saved by grace through faith” and “faith without works is dead”. Quite simply, it’s one of the classic mistakes of interpreting the Bible…trying to understand God’s word through our cultural filter (in Luther’s case: the filter of works driven Catholicism). What James tells us in the second chapter of his letter is that those who have faith will walk out (works) in such a way that demonstrates that they possess (by faith) what can’t be seen or known by conventional human capacities. No man has ever seen God, as John points out in his gospel, yet we believe God exists. Why? For John it was because he saw God demonstrated through the life of Jesus (John 1:14-18). For us, it is as we see God working in the world through people.

This was the misnomer James was after in his letter…that there are those who stop at believing in their mind, being convinced through logic or environment. This was a trap that kept believers from receiving and walking in all that God had provided. This same trap cripples many Christians in our day as well. Coming out of 500 years of linear-based logic that began with The Enlightenment, we have a cultural filter like Luther did. We have come to value understanding in our minds more than possessing in our hands. Theories are of more importance to us than practiced truth. Perhaps this idea of receiving was what John was referring to in his first epistle when he says:

“…that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life…that we declare to you…” (1 John 1:1-3).

Those who have received God’s love will in turn live as ones who have possessed it by their tangible love for God and love for others. We love God because He first loved us…because we have received His love.

“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 really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it; then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” – Ephesians 3:18-19 (NLT)

Paul uses dimensional descriptors to equate what it means to understand and experience the love of God. While physicists are pondering the possibility of as many as 10 or 11 dimensions contained within the universe, there are four that you and I can relate to based on our daily experience. Those dimensions are: Height, Width, Depth and Time (length). I believe that Paul was trying to communicate to the Ephesian believers that God’s love was to be experienced in the here and now, or else it could not be fully understood in the life of the Christian.

The Width of God’s Love
Width (or breadth) is the dimension which determines the scope of an object; its range of motion, capacity and influence. A good picture of this would be a fishing net. A wide net, quite simply, catches more fish than a tall or deep one. It stretches through more of the water, crossing the paths of more fish. God’s love is wide…embracing all…embracing sinners of every kind…stretching to the highways and byways of life. When David declares in the Psalms that God casts our sins as far as the east is from the west, not only does he remove sin from us, but there is no sin that cannot be brought to the mercy of His great love. Those who have received the width of God’s love have surrendered to the overwhelming scope of it. They are no longer trying to run around it. They can’t avoid it. They stop fighting against it…they have been caught. Jesus told Peter and the others that he would make them fisher’s of men. These guys knew what fishing nets were. It was their trade. I don’t believe Jesus was telling them they would make converts. He was saying: “by the time I am done with you, you will be able to catch men with the wide net of my love from which no man can escape.” Peter certainly came to know this truth; as must you and I. We must see all men as candidates for the wide net of God’s love. We are all sinners. The type of sin is irrelevant to the love of God. We should rejoice when we encounter sinners of “the worst kind” because even these are not beyond the reach of the net. Besides, weren’t you and I caught by the very edges ourselves?

The Height of God’s Love
The Height (or Zenith) of an object is its highest point. It is the fullness of God’s love. It is the most advanced point. How is it that mortal beings, such as we are, who are not only infinitesimally microscopic in comparison to all of God’s creation, but also frail and sin-stained, have been given access to the heights of God’s love? For Paul to suggest this is truly astounding. There isn’t one among us who feels worthy of such an opportunity. There is something in the back of our minds that whispers “you know this is only a figurative statement…God wouldn’t really share EVERYTHING with you.” God has not reserved the top 5% for Himself, the extremely holy or the angels. He has opened the door of access to anyone who would come. The height of His love belongs to everyone that the width of it catches. The height of His love involves all that He has given extravagantly to us. Whether it is wisdom, resources, anointing, peace, or any other gift He has given it to the nth degree. It is there for us to enjoy. It is there for us to share with others. He has withheld no good thing from us (Psalm 84:11). God is good; he has withheld nothing of Himself from us! Those who walk in the height of God’s love, walk in all that He is and all that He has given to us.

The Depth of God’s Love
Depth, for a three dimensional object, is the direct linear measurement from the front to back. Ultimately, depth determines capacity (volume).

When I consider the capacity of God’s love I am reminded of Paul’s famous words in 1 Corinthians 13. Particularly the characteristics of love outlined in verses 4-7:

• Patient (long-suffering)
• Kind (gentle)
• Doesn’t Envy (not insecure)
• Doesn’t Boast (not better than…)
• Not Proud (humble, knowing its place…)
• Not Self-Seeking (prefers others)
• Not Rude (considerate/sensitive to other’s feelings)
• Not easily Angered (doesn’t take things personally)
• Doesn’t Keep a Record of Wrongs (chooses to see the best)
• Rejoices in truth, not in evil
• Protects, Trusts, Hopes, Perseveres
• Never Fails

Walking in the depth of God’s love is not a momentary event. There isn’t a meter that we are watching so that when someone has exhausted our capacity we have a right to act in a context that is outside of love. We forgive 70x7 times…and then we forgive again. This is about relationships. Are we enjoying the fruit of the depth of God’s love in our relationships with family, church, and the world? Have we compartmentalized our relationships in such a way that we have allocated a certain amount of love for them? Are there certain people we have reserved less love for? Those who are walking in the depth of God’s love have a capacity for others weaknesses that causes them to see beyond the weakness to the person that God loves and has designed great things for. The word Depth, can also be defined as the deepest places of the sea (Abyss), the soul, or of feelings. Those who walk in the depth of God’s love have experienced his far reaching love that meets us even in the depths of human experience. They have the ability to help others who are in the depths of life to get connected to the love that will lift the higher. As Job said: “He will deliver his soul from the pit, and his life shall see light” – Job 33:28 (KJV)

The Length (Time) of God’s Love
“His Love Endures Forever” – Read: Psalm 136 Throughout all time there has been a heartbeat, the greatest of all, that has been like a metronome keeping the events of humankind on temp with the grand purposes of God. It is the consistent pounding of God’s love. All creation resonates with it. Love existed before creation breathed its first breath. Love will remain beyond the need for hope and faith. Those who walk in the Length of God’s love understand that all things are to be brought back in tempo with His heart. This is the goal; everything else is just a means to this end. They understand that God’s love has determined a timetable…there is no need for impatience or panic. God is in control. The one, who began the work, is able to finish it. Every event, relationship and circumstance needs to be interpreted through the lens of God’s love. What is God doing? How does this relate to God’s grand purpose? It is so easy to focus on what the enemy is doing or where human failure is present. Love looks for what God is doing in the person.

In Conclusion As I read through this article I am half excited and half discouraged. I am excited by the greatness of God’s love and how that has been made available to me. I am discouraged by the fact that the ideal state of walking in God’s love seems quite unattainable. My faith seems to fall short. Maybe you have similar thoughts and feelings along these lines. We need to take comfort in the fact that God has us right where He wants us. We are in a process of growing in this love. The fact that Paul prayed for the Ephesians (and us) showed that we haven’t quite gotten there. So, we trust in God…in His love. As we continue to surrender to the fact that God loves us no matter what, and continue to take bolder steps into the heights of His love, and grow in our capacity to love as we have been loved, and rest in the foundation of His love which endures all time and all things…we will be able to say as Paul did: “There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God”. Not just God’s love toward us, but our connectedness to that love. We are joined to it, we have received it, and we live it as those who have possession of the greatest treasure in all existence.