Skip to content

“…how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.”

Ephesians 3:14-19

“When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.  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 is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

Love

Human’s love – left to its own – is so incomplete.  You can say you love, but on your own you will fall short of fully realizing the power of love.  You cannot entirely love by your own power.  You cannot completely love by your own initiative.  You cannot experience love’s power by your own determination.  You – alone – cannot wholly love.

It is only when God’s love fills you that you can even begin to experience the real power of love.  As you learn to open your heart to the love of Christ, you can then begin to see a glimpse of what true love looks like.  When your heart is over flowing with God’s love – then and only then – will you be able to begin wrapping your brain around the gift of love.  And this understanding will just barely scratch the surface of love’s full potential.

When Christ’s love is experienced, everything else pales in comparison.  It is only then that you can begin to realize your shortcomings when attempting to love.  You can say you love, but without the power of Divine love your love is fragile and incomplete.  You cannot even begin to open your heart to the genuine vulnerability needed to truly love another if you do not first rest in the arms of God’s love. 

Your love does not have what it takes to withstand the pains and struggles of this world.  Without God’s absolute love you cannot withstand the harshness of your life.  You will build up walls to protect what feels so fragile.  You will erect defenses in attempt to keep your heart from being too vulnerable, too open, too exposed, from breaking.  Without the gift of Jesus, you cannot begin to feel the inner peace needed to fully be open to the power of all-embracing love.  This love is the only real stronghold needed to survive this earthly life.  It is the bread of life.

God has created you to long for the depth of the love that only he can provide.  He knows it is all you really need.  No matter what joy you experience in life, you will always hunger and thirst for something more.  You will search for a love to touch the depth of your soul and satisfy the meaning of your life.  Unless you look to the cross, you will always feel as if you come home from this search empty handed. 

Without Christ in your heart, your attempts at love will be as if you are trying to hold a bucket of water in your hands.  The water will pour through your fingers and all that you will be left holding is dampness.  There will be enough moisture for you to know that the water is wet, but not enough water will be present to quench your thirst.  You will be left with the unsettledness that implores you to move on in your search.

Do you want your thirst satisfied?  Then drink of the living water of Christ.  As all lovers do of each other, desire to know him as he already knows you.  He knows the number of hairs on your head…he knew your name before we were born…he made all of your delicate, inner parts of your body and knitted you together in your mother’s womb…how intimate is his knowledge of you.  He knows you like no other and loves you deeply and forever.  Long to find out everything you can about him.  Search out and learn about the ultimate love of your life.  His heart longs for our love to be given freely, openly and trustingly to him.  Know your lover, the ultimate lover, Christ your Lord.

It is only when you can begin to experience the promise of the Cross that you will begin to experience all that love promises.  Christ, the ultimate lover, is your teacher.  He is your guide on this journey of love.  It is through him and only him that you will be able to experience the peace that passes all understanding which is the ultimate realization of love here on earth.

When God’s love fills you, it can’t help but bubble up inside of you and overflow into the world.  It is only then that you will begin to understand “how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.”  It is only then that you will truly be able to experience love in our broken world.  It is only then that the power of love will transform you into the image of Jesus Christ.  You will then be love!

Posted in Love.

Tagged with , , , , .

1 comment

By Jackie Joens – October 7, 2010

Flying with a Goldfinch

James 1: 2-3

 2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

2 Corinthians 4: 16-18

 16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. 

 Have you ever watched a goldfinch fly? 

Not just fly by your immediate range of sight, but rather watch it in flight.  I had the opportunity to enjoy goldfinch watching this summer and I am delighted at the joy those little yellow birds shared with me.

The goldfinch flies in a pattern much like a scalloped edge on some fabric finishes.  It will flap its wings and fly up, up, up.  When it reaches a high point, it will stop flapping and swoop down for a small time until it reaches the bottom of the scallop.  Then, it starts flapping again.  And so the swooping continues. 

Over and over again, the goldfinch appears to be dancing a delightful dance which in many ways replicates the way our lives flow – up and down, up and down.  After a struggle up hill (with lots of work and energy) we often enjoy the ‘swoop’ on the downside of those climbs.  Riding the ride and swooping with joy at the relief of an opportunity to catch our breath. 

Then, after enjoying the ride of the swoop, life happens again.  We find ourselves facing the fact that if we don’t start working again we will crash.  So, it becomes important to start flapping again.  We encounter a new uphill struggle and start our climb once again.  Up and down, over and over again is this journey of living our lives.

But, here is where we could really embrace a life lesson from our neighbor, the goldfinch.  Every time the goldfinch starts flapping, it does so in song.  As it flaps its wings, it sings.  (I promise it does!  I watched them all summer!)  It swoops and then starts singing and flapping…over and over again.  Swoop…sing and flap…swoop…sing and flap – up and down – time and time again.

I wonder…is the goldfinch pleading for inner strength as it works at flying on the up side of that swoop, or is it praising God for having the opportunity to once again work for the upcoming swoop?  Maybe it is a little bit of both!

When you experience your next up hill life struggle, remember the goldfinch in flight.  When we have faith and love in our Savior, he promises his faithfulness as we climb the struggles we face.  He will help provide strength if we feel ours is depleted – we just need to ask and praise him for the challenge.  In Christ is the promise and hope of a great, fun and wonderful upcoming swoop!

Posted in Meditations/Devotions.

Tagged with , , , , , , , .

No comments

By Jackie Joens – September 7, 2010

Thoughts on love…

Sometimes it seems as if love is elusive – a ‘feeling’ which is held just beyond reach.  If you were blessed to be part of a loving and supportive family, you were able to experience what it was like to live in and with love.  However, if your family suffered from some form of dysfunction (which most do), love may seem like a foreign concept that is difficult to wrap your brain around.

As for love…you can learn to love and experience the ‘feeling’ of love as you heal your heart from past and present times of hurts and disappointments.  As you move towards healing from hurts, you will begin to build a door to your heart that you can then realize you control.  You can open it and close it as you need.  Shutting it to protect your heart and opening it when you want to let love out…for you see…that is where you begin to love.  That is how you learn to become vulnerable without fearing becoming a victim.

God’s love is yours and it is in you now.  Your hurts keep you from fully experiencing the joy of that love as you do not feel it is yours to experience.  So…continue the work of healing from hurts and learning how to let down your feelings of inadequacy where God’s love is concerned…then his love is experienced in your heart and all of a sudden you are ‘feeling’ love. 

When God’s love is experienced in your life, it can’t help but bubble up and spill out of you into the world around you.  Love is something that almost takes on a life of its own.  It moves, flows and surrounds you when you are willing to open your life to experience the gift of God’s love.  It is unconditional, unrelenting, never ending…it is always there and always honest…you do not have to do anything to ‘earn’ it.  Learn to let it be yours…

Read and study 1 Corinthians 13.  Paul writes how wonderful the gift of love is when we model our lives to live it.  When you begin to work on bringing more love into your life – you need to understand that it begins with you living love.  Paul tells us what that looks like.  Live love, then love will come flowing into your world. 

Being single myself, I know that sometimes I feel the void of affection in my world.  Sometimes I long for a touch, a hug, the all-knowing smile.  But, that it is affection – not necessarily love for which I hunger.  Affection is important but is different from love.  Affection is a result of being with someone who knows how to live love.  But it is important to remember that a life of love can be experienced no matter if I am married or single.

Love is how to live life.  Are you patient, kind, selfless, justice seeking?  Love is a way for you to live, not something for you to feel.  When experiencing affection, you can sometimes experience the ‘feeling’ of love.  But, when in the presence of a person who has been mean, abusive, absent from relationship – even if affection is shown, a ‘feeling’ of love may not be experienced.  To really experience love in life it is important to learn the difference between affection and love.  I know…it is easier said than done.  But the journey needs to begin with what you give – not what you receive.

Try living love today…see what happens in your world when you model living a day of love as we are called to live in 1 Corinthians 13.  It is yours!

Posted in Love, Relationships.

Tagged with , , , , .

No comments

By Jackie Joens – March 22, 2010