The Best Mystery
“…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3: 17-20
There are a lot of things in the world I just don’t get. Chemistry, for one.
I vividly remember crying in a bathroom stall my senior year of high school because my mind went blank during a chemistry test and I convinced myself I would probably never go to college, get a job, find happiness, or own a dog if I failed that test. I thought to myself “I’m way too old to be crying in the bathroom because of a test” and yet there I was, all weepy because I just could not wrap my brain around mole conversions or something like that.
It’s true, I don’t get Chemistry. Something else incomprehensible to me is God’s love, but the fact that I can’t understand his unrelenting love for me is not something to weep over, it is cause for celebration.
If you’ve grown up going to church or around camp, you’ve heard about how much God loves you. You might have even sang songs and memorized scripture about it.
The cool thing is, God doesn’t just love you. He loves you more than you will ever be able to comprehend, but not in the sad-girl-who-doesn’t-get-chemistry type of way. He loves you in the too-good-to-be-true-never-ending type of way.
The author of Ephesians encourages Christ followers to “know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,” but how can we truly know something that surpasses knowledge?
I think the point being made here is that the Lord loves us in a way that no human on earth ever could. Sure, we get little glimpses of God sized loved here and there: from friends, family, and sweet stories that pop up on the news, but human love is not as pure as the Love of the Lord.
On earth, we usually love other people who entertain us or give us meaning, but Jesus loves us even though we have nothing to offer him. His love remains the same even when we turn our backs or run away, and that just isn’t something you see here on earth.
While I hate that I can’t fully grasp chemistry, I love that I can’t fully grasp the love of Christ. He loves us in a way that is too good to understand, but not too good to be true.