We want to be full of God’s goodness and be one with Him, but we find that we are distracted by the demands and values of the world. So how do we overcome these pressures? One of the biggest themes in the New Testament is that having a view of God’s tremendous love and future blessings for us will empower us to let go of worldliness and participate in God’s fullness.
We see this in one of the most famous prayers of the New Testament – the Apostle Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-19:
14For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15from whom every familyc in heaven and on earth is named, 16that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
This passage is a fascinating description of spiritual growth. Notice that Paul prays that the Holy Spirit would bring power into the inner being of believers. This tells us that we need power in our inner being. Even with the new birth and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we are weak unless we receive more power to strengthen our inner being. Certainly, believers understand that they need strength to become like Christ because we experience our weaknesses and faults. Therefore, our path is to admit that we are weak and embrace our dependence on God to strengthen our inner self.
And the purpose of Paul’s prayer is that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith. But wasn’t Jesus already dwelling in their hearts? In Ephesians 1:13 Paul said that they had already received the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 1:6 Paul says that they have been seated with Christ in heaven. So why does he pray that Jesus would dwell in their hearts? It must be that the indwelling of Jesus is something that grows over time if we abide in faith. We see this in Eph. 2:21 where Paul says that they are a dwelling place that “grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” If we want more of Jesus then our faith must grow which means that we welcome opportunities for our faith to be exercised and tested. This means struggle but it is the path to more of Jesus in every room in the house of our heart. In this way our hearts become Christ’s home.
But there is another key to receiving all of God in our hearts. We need to be “rooted and grounded in love.” So we are like a plant growing in different kinds of soil and the soil that is best for our roots is God’s love. If we are receiving nutrients from “love soil” then this will show up in the leaves and blossoms of the tree. The tree will be filled with the richness of the soil.
“If we are receiving nutrients from “love soil” then this will show up in the leaves and blossoms of the tree.”
God goes even further than grounding us in love. Notice that the passage states that we should be grounded in love so that we might be have the power to comprehend the immensity of Christ’s love. So when we are grounded in love we should grow in comprehending more of Christ’s love! (Note that a similar idea is also stated in Phil. 1:9 where love is said to grow in knowledge.) And even though Paul does not explicitly mention the future, when he speaks of Christ’s love he is almost certainly including the future blessing and glory of the saints. In other words, he wants believers to focus on the amazing completion of God’s love for us in the next age.
But the process doesn’t end there. What is the purpose of growing in Christ’s love? It is not just so we can praise him for his love for us. Rather, it is so we can be “filled with all the fullness of God.” Isn’t it amazing that this is what God wants to do? He wants to fill us up with Himself. This is the process that is close to God’s heart. He wants us to be a building, or tree, or pitcher that is full of His beautiful virtues. This makes God rejoice for it is the fulfillment of the purpose of our life. When we are like Him then we can be one with Him. This is our highest happiness.
Application: Remember God’s process for growth in this passage –
- God’s Spirit strengthens our inner self
- So that we would have faith
- So Christ would dwell in our hearts
- So we would be grounded love
- So we would comprehend Christ’s immense love
- So we would be filled with all the fullness of God
