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“…that you, being firmly rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge… ~Ephesians 3:17b-19a

God is beyond time—He created everything and has always existed (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-4). He is everywhere all at once (omnipresent), and He knows everything (omniscient). God holds everything together with His Word (Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:3)—He is all-powerful (omnipotent). He knew you before He formed you (Psalm 139: 15-16).

And, no matter who you are, where you are, or what you’ve done, God loves you.

Maybe you’re running from God right now. You want to do life the world’s way, on your own terms. You’re confident that you can think, speak, and act outside of God’s view. Like a toddler who covers her own eyes and thinks she can’t be seen, you fully believe you can hide from God. Oh, but let’s look at the glorious words of Psalm 139:7-10: “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I lift up the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.”

Sweet friend, God knows you. You cannot hide or run from Him. He created you for relationship with Him and wants You to be reconciled with Him. That’s why—while we were still running, hiding, sinning—God the Father sent Jesus, the Son who is fully God and fully Man, to live the perfect life we could not and die the brutal death we deserved, making the payment we owed. Then, when Jesus rose victorious over sin and death, we who accept that it counted for us, receive forgiveness and reconciliation with God by grace through faith. This is the love of God for you (Romans 5:6-11). You can stop running…you can rest in His love.

And, believer, what about you? Perhaps you are in Christ—surrendered and saved—but you feel alone, afraid, abandoned? Oh, beloved…it’s a lie from the enemy of your soul! We can never, ever be separated from the love of Jesus. In His victory, we are co-victors—but more than that, we are His children, one with Him and heirs of the Kingdom. More than conquerors. And because of this, nothing, no one, no powers-that-be can put a wedge between us and the love of God. You are not alone.

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction, or turmoil, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were counted as sheep for the slaughter.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39

Friend, may you and I root our lives in this truth! No matter what storms come against us (because they will). We are loved and known by God, and we’re made inseparable from the love of God in Christ. And what a mind-blowing joy to read the way Paul talks about this in Ephesians 3, as he’s praying for that church family. He basically says, “Friends, stand firm in knowing the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ’s love…and…rest in the fact that it’s too broad, long, high, and deep for us to ever know.” Amen!

“Lord, may every person reading these words recognize the glorious truth of Your love. Love that saves by grace through faith…and love that never leaves or forsakes. And may we all rest in the unknowable power, presence, and vastness of You.

For His Glory,

Julianne Winkler Smith
TRBC Women’s Life