"I pray that out of His glorious riches [the Father] 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 all knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:16-21)
What a beautiful thought! It's a longer passage, but it's all worth hearing. I've italicized a few portions that are especially striking. The love of Christ is so expansive that it is beyond comprehension. It "surpasses knowledge". You could spend a lifetime thinking about it and you would still be unable to fully understand how profoundly Christ loves you. Here's a start though: He died for you. He knew how sinful and hurtful and scornful you would be, and He wanted to save you. He endured pain that we cannot fathom. He told His disciples in the garden the night before His death, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" (Mt26:38), and still he went willingly to the cross. He did all this out of the great love He has for us, knowing we have nothing but thanks to give in return. There have been psychology studies indicating that a sense of awe is good for our brains. It is good for us to take in a great landscape and know that we are part of it. In our case as Christians, I think it is good for us to take in the massive love of Christ and know that we are blessed.
Remember yesterday, when I wrote that we don't always need to know what to pray for in order to pray? I said that sometimes we cannot imagine what good can be done. Sometimes it's the opposite. We think we know what is best, because it seems the obvious next step, or it's something we really want. I'm a planner, and I have a good imagination. Often I ask for something, and get frustrated when it doesn't happen (I'm 99% sure we've all been there). Think about the last time that happened to you, or a particularly potent time that it happened. Now think about what happened next. I'm sure at some point in your life you haven't gotten what you asked God for, and instead He gave you something much better that you hadn't even considered. I know as well as anyone how hard it is to keep those examples in mind when we feel lost and disappointed that things aren't going how we want them to. But I encourage you to keep this verse and your unexpected blessing in mind. God is able to do immeasurably, exceedingly, abundantly more than we can imagine, no matter how good we think our imaginations are.
The next time you lose out on the best thing you can imagine, remember how much bigger God's imagination is. Let go, and let Him imagine a better way to show you his immeasurable love.
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