Pray for Strength to Know Christ’s Love
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength 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. . .
In his 2022 album The Joy of Music, Ben Rector dropped a song titled “Steady Love.” The song is a thoughtful reminder that what we really need is steady love. Rector croons, “But when your heart gets tired of living on the run. . . My God, you should find you some. . . Steady love.” Later in the song he adds a thoughtful twist when he sings, “Cause truth is, we were made to be, in steady love.” Similarly, this is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church. He wants them to know, experience, and live out of some steady love.
There seems to be at least two reasons Paul prays for this church. First, he prays that they would become all that God intends for them. Namely, that this diverse church would become his dwelling place (2:19-22) and make known God’s wisdom to the visible and invisible world. Second, he prays that suffering would not dishearten this young church. For these reasons what the Ephesian church needs is some steady love. For this Paul prays, and—regardless of our beliefs—I think we can agree with Ben and Paul here.
For example, my wife, Kali, is a public school teacher. She can tell you that, generally, the students who flourish in the classroom and who are most resilient when things get hard are the kids with steady, loving homes. Steady love seems to be a necessary precondition to flourishing and resiliency. On a more personal chord, I’m sure we can look back on our own lives and notice the seasons of growth and strength were undergirded by a steady drumbeat of love from friends or family. So then, I don’t think Ben’s or Paul’s premise is really up for debate. The question, rather, is where do we find steady love?
We can look for this kind of love in another person, but people disappoint and die. We can look for this kind of love in career success, but businesses go under and economies fail. We can look for this kind of love online, but online always carries with it a veneer of implausibility. We can look for this kind of love from possessions, but possessions go out of style and bank accounts have limits. In one way or another, none of the above can offer an unstoppably steady love. That kind of steady love—the kind that you and I long for—is only found in Jesus Christ.
Christ’s love is so deep, so high, and so wide that it cannot be exhausted.
Paul describes Christ’s love as incomprehensible. Christ’s love is so deep, so high, and so wide that it cannot be exhausted. Earlier in his letter Paul praises God for his love demonstrated in Christ toward believers like him. In love, God blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, chose us to be holy and blameless before him, predestined us for adoption into his family, forgave all of our sins through Christ’s blood, revealed to us his plan to make all things new through Christ, and sealed us with the promised Holy Spirit until life everlasting.
In love, God did all these things! There is no sin that can’t be drowned out by the symphony of Christ’s death and resurrection. There is no weariness that can’t be overcome by the crescendo of Christ’s steady love for his people. Knowing this love, the love of Christ, will empower us and our churches to become all that he intends for us, even amid suffering. So pray to our mightiest Father who loves us and has brought us near that he would give us strength by his Spirit to know and feel Christ’s steady love.
