Tuesday, January 3, 2017

1-3-2017



Good Morning All,
           Ephesians 3: 17-18; “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 Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ”
    With the New Year here many people make resolutions.  We are going to lose weight, stop smoking, exercise more, use our cell phone less, spend time with the family and many more very good goals.  Perhaps it would do us some good to make resolutions about our faith as well.  These verses may give us a little help.  This is part of the prayer that Paul offered up for the Ephesians.  The entire prayer is in Ephesians 3: 14-21 and is truly worth the study.
    Paul didn’t write this prayer as a New Year’s resolution but in a sense it could be one.  It could be a resolution for all Christians to engage in a simple process of faith.  First, we are rooted and established in love in order to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.  Rooted in love to grasp the depth of the love of Christ, that is an amazing process.
    So how do we stay rooted in love?  By staying deep in His Word.  Jesus told his disciples to remain in my Word and you will love one another and then the world will know you by how you love one another.  This is the crucial element.  We must stay in the Word.  We do this by studying God’s Word, by meditating on it, by praying over it and through it that we might be strengthened in faith.  This should encourage us to move forward in life.  We know what God has planned for us in the end and that is eternal life with Him in the new creation.  The battles, struggles and challenges we face along the way are only bumps and lumps.  No matter how difficult or challenging they are; they are never greater than the love of Jesus for us.  The challenges we face never outweigh the power of God’s love for us.  In all our challenges we need to stay deep in the Word to face them.
      This leads us to live this faith in which Paul describes as the height and depth and breadth of Jesus’ love.  This is where we take what we have from God through Jesus and live it out in the world.  We can show and express this love by sharing it with those around us.  We can share this love by showing compassion for others.  We can share this love by placing the needs of others higher on our list of priorities.  We can share this love with a tender hand, a comforting shoulder and a soft word of encouragement.  The love of Jesus enables us to do so.
    So for this next year, strive to stay deep in the Word and to be wide in the world.  Seek to serve God in all that you do, in the little and the mundane as well as the big and magnificent.  Stay connected and grounded in God’s love, and live the life that he has given to you with courage and hope.
Father of all mercy, your love shown to us through Jesus is deeper and wider than anything we can perceive.  Lead us to live our lives in service to you.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret

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