“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, 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 3:17-19).
Sometimes, the traps the devil and our sinful nature set for us aren’t obvious. They’re more subtle. They tempt complacency—the thought that we know about God’s love already, we’ve heard it all before—so God’s Word goes in one ear and out the other without ever making its way into our hearts.
Complacency kills. It slowly eats away at our faith. Like cancer, it spreads and grows unseen—maybe for years—but little by little, it kills us.
Maybe we zone out during a sermon or two, but so what? We know what the preacher is going to say anyway. Maybe we skip our daily devotion, but we’re still doing it most of the time, aren’t we? Maybe we don’t come to church as much as we should, but we’re still there for the important services like Christmas and Easter . . . aren’t we?
God himself urges us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Keep moving; grow and do not become complacent. How?
Know the love that surpasses all knowledge—the love of Christ.
That was Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians in the verses that began this blog post. That’s the prayer for you and me as well. But if we can’t even begin to fully understand Christ’s love, what’s the point of even trying?
Our sinful, natural inclination is to settle for less and be okay with that. If we can’t do something well, why even try? The old Adam living in our hearts says, “We know enough about Christ and his love. Move on already.”
But the new man, born and strengthened by the Holy Spirit who created faith in our hearts, cries out and prays boldly to God. “What? I don’t want to settle. I don’t want less. I want more. Show me your love; teach me in your Word. Help me not to be complacent but to ask you for more. More knowledge, more understanding.”
Is that too much to ask? By no means. God can do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine! He comes to us in his Word and sacraments and says, “You think you know what love is, but you don’t. Look. This is my Son. This is love.”
Jesus saw us dead in our sins, stumbling about in darkness, weeping and gnashing our teeth, consumed with hatred. Hatred for ourselves, hatred for everyone around us, hatred for God himself—and he loved us. He loved us.
There was nothing he was not willing to do to rescue us from our sins. No length to which he was not willing to go. We were so far away from him—as far as we could get. But God didn’t want that. The Creator of the universe moved from heaven to earth to be with us.
He lived perfectly, without sin. He endured pain, anguish, and torment—beaten, bloodied, flogged, ridiculed, spat on, heaped with insults, nailed to a cross, forsaken by God the Father, suffered hell itself—and then the author of life died a horrible death. We look to the cross and see the God-man hanging there, and we ask, “My God, why? I don’t understand.”
Wait three agonizing, fear-filled days. Then go to the empty tomb. Hear our risen Savior’s response:
“Why? Because I love you. By my perfect life, innocent death on the cross, and triumphant resurrection, I have taken away all your sins. Your grief; your shame; your wickedness and rebellion; your sinful thoughts, hurtful words, and hateful actions—they are gone! Because of me, you are at peace with God. You are his dear child, in whom he takes great delight. Eternal life is yours.”
And with those words and knowledge, joy blooms in the wastelands of our hearts, springing forth from Christ’s love deeply rooted and firmly founded there.
His love doesn’t just fill our hearts. It fills our whole lives. And then, it overflows. We can’t contain it—we couldn’t, even if we tried. It drives complacency and joylessness away. It breathes intentionality, purpose, and joy back into our lives.
Complacency may kill, but in his great love for us, Jesus gives us life.
Thank you, Jesus!
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Discover the depths of God’s amazing love for you in Seeing God’s Heart: The Certainty of His Love for Me. Want to learn a bit more? Click here to read a special Q&A blog post with the author, Pastor Lynn E. Wiedmann.
Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House. He has his Master of Divinity degree from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation.
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