Comprehending the Love of God through Christ: The New Humanity Part 14

Eph 3:14-21  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,  (15)  from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.  (16)  I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,  (17)  and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.  (18)  I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth,  (19)  and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  (20)  Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine,  (21)  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

The above passage from Ephesians has always been one of my favorites. Paul is writing a prayer of his heart for the Ephesian saints. but, this prayer is for all of us and should encourage all of us. After the experience on the Damascus road, Paul spent a lot of time with the Spirit of the Living Christ Jesus, and had so much revealed to him. He said in one place that he was caught up in the third heaven, and heard things that it is not lawful for humans to utter. He got a glimpse of the incomprehensible God of the universe. He makes two main points in this prayer. First is the indescribable scope and intensity of God's love for humanity. Second he eludes to the tremendous power that is at work in the saints because of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

The Apostle John wrote God is Love twice in one chapter. God is perfect love and is perfectly good. So why would one fear love? John also wrote that perfect love casts out all fear as fear is torment and the one who fears has not realized they are loved with perfect love.  And yet, so sadly so many of my dear sisters and brothers fear God. If we go back to the garden story. Our prototypes ran and hid when they discovered they were naked. Of course they had been naked all along, but the awareness of the fact, caused them to fear God and hide from him as he approached them. Ever since then people try to hide from God whenever they become aware of their failure and are reminded of the presence of God. Jesus, the last Adam and the ultimate prototype walked among us as God to convince us that we did not need to hide from God. He explained that God was our Papa. He told us about the absolute relentless love that the Father had for him. Jesus Papa loves his creation in an unfathomable way. As Paul mentioned in his prayer for the saints, it is a love that surpasses knowledge. I know he said the love of Christ. However, Paul also said in another place that in Jesus the Godhead dwells bodily. So the love of Christ is the love of Father/Papa.

Paul prayed that we/they would be able to comprehend the magnitude of this love. But read the last part of the prayer. He mentions that the power of God is at work in us. That power is able to accomplish abundantly far more than we can imagine. What a promise! This is made available as we begin to lean on, trust in, and cling too the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is the power that is in work in us. Peter wrote that we become partakers of the divine nature. I believe that the Holy Spirit is the mind of Christ. Paul said that we should let the same mind that is in Christ Jesus be in us. He did not mean allow it in. It is there as a guarantee of our redemption. He meant that we should begin to acknowledge the mind of Christ within us. That mind will assure us of the love of Papa and will birth the same love in us for our fellow humanity.

That is the character and being of the New Humanity. We understand that Christ indwells us, and it is our hope of glory. When Jesus told the Jews that the kingdom of God was among them, the fact is, that after Pentecost, the kingdom of God was WITHIN them as they were indwelt by the mind of the King. This is such encouraging news. It is the kind of news that will stir our spirits to the good works that Papa designed for us to walk in before anything was created. Rejoice in this prayer and read it often for encouragement.

As we become increasingly aware of this let us allow our minds to align with His mind in us. Don't take these words of Paul as a commandment that you can fail at. Take them as and encouraging focus for your mind. Php 4:8  "Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."