Good Morning Friends,
“For this reason I kneel before the Father,
from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that
out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit
in your inner being, so 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 3:14-19)
What is the secret of spiritual maturity?
Paul tells us that it is to be “filled to the
measure of all the fullness of God.” That sounds like spiritual maturity to me,
to be filled completely with God!
It is surprising to read what Paul says will
bring us to spiritual maturity.
It starts by being rooted and established in
love. Spiritual life starts when we come to understand that God loves us and
wants to be in relationship with us. Responding to God’s love is the first step
toward spiritual life and spiritual growth.
The second step is about love, too. It is to
grow in our understanding of God’s love for us. None of us fully comprehend how
much God loves us when we first come into a relationship with Him. It will take
all our lives to begin to grasp the extent of God’s love. As we grow to more
fully understand how “wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ”
then we will move toward greater and greater spiritual maturity.
The third step is about love, too. It’s not
just to know God’s love or to grasp how much God loves us, it is to “know this
love.” It’s about personally experiencing God’s love. Spiritual growth is not
just about head knowledge, it’s about heart experience. Knowing God’s love
“surpasses knowledge.” We come to know God’s love, to experience it in the deep
places in our hearts, as we walk through life and see God at work in us and
around us.
Spiritual growth is about love – understanding
and experiencing how much God loves us!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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