Devotionals

Do you know how much God loves you?

by Susan Barnes 
03/16/18
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"I pray that you ... 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 …" Ephesians 3:17-19

In these verses Paul is telling the Ephesians Christians that he is praying for them to know how much they are loved. Presumably Paul would have told them this when he was with them, yet he obviously felt that they hadn't really taken it in. So now he not only tells them, but prays that God would give them the power to understand that they are loved.

Do you know how much God loves you?

On the cross Jesus said, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?"(Mark 15:34). God forsook Jesus so that he would never have to forsake us. That really is amazing love. Every time we share bread and wine in our church services, we remember how much we are loved. Loved so much God gave his only Son.

The Message Bible puts Paul's prayer like this, that "you'll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love." John also wanted his readers to know how much they are loved, he wrote "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us" (1 John 3:1). Christ's love is extravagant and lavish. From a human perspective we have never been loved like this, and it’s a little overwhelming to be so totally loved. Nevertheless, let’s open our hearts to receive his love.