The Strength Of Love
I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Ephesians 3:16-19
Years ago, I was a follower of an author named Dr. Wayne Dyer. He wrote a book called ‘The Power of Intention.’ In it, he talked about how all of us derive power through an interconnection through a higher power or has he put it ‘a source.’ In his view, it was natural because we are created by this ‘source.’ As a Christian, I obviously connected it to God, but because his audience was vast and multi-cultural, he was dare I say ‘intentional’ in not placing a specific name on that source. He had a quote where I know God was guiding me to make a point. Dr Dyer said:
You can’t expect to draw people into your life who are kind, confident, and generous if you’re thinking and acting in cruel, weak, and selfish ways. You must be what it is that you’re seeking—that is, you need to put forth what you want to attract.
This makes perfect sense when you think about the concept of love and in particularly God’s love. My wife once told me that you cannot get respect unless you give respect. I would add to that saying you cannot get love without giving love. A Christian might believe it is not true because God gives us love unconditionally without expecting it in return. My response is love is the presence of God, and as Dr. Dyer would point out, through our connection, we expand our capacity to love through Him. We have always been loved by God because He is the very source of it. If we are to bring love into our world, we must represent God’s love to those we are surrounded by. Through our representation, we are committing to as my church’s mission would say, “a mosaic striving to live like Jesus,” showing His love to all unconditionally.
The greatest power we possess from God comes from the love He gives us. My small group had a conversation yesterday about inner strength. The question was about how one could have inner strength without God. The answer is anyone can have inner strength without God. The difference is how much inner strength one can have without Him. Without Him, people have a ceiling that eventually can be hit. However, with God, there is no ceiling. This is where love comes in. The greater love we have for God, the greater strength we gain because in its most simplistic terms, we are beyond our own strength boundaries. It is very much like 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NLT), which says, “For we live by believing and not by seeing,” or if you like the wording of the King James Version, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” This says we can see further with our belief in God’s vision than just seeing what is there. The most difficult exam in college that I ever passed was not because I could do it on my own. In fact, I knew I would fail. But my wife loved me so much, she literally willed me through encouragement and belief in me to somehow help me find a way to pass. This is at the heart of today’s verses. When you experience the love of Christ, you have, “the fullness of life and power that comes from God,” and it is limitless. And as my wife’s example showed, it can empower not only yourself but also those around you.
Love truly is power. Sure, many misunderstand love as something soft, warm, and fuzzy. Well, I say to anyone who feels that way to think of someone they truly admire. Eventually they will find one thing about them that shows some level of love that is often beyond their own talents and abilities. As followers of Jesus Christ, we have a love that many will not understand. But if we are intentional in connecting with God, others will see not only how powerful God’s love is but also how they too can find greater strength through it. Let us ensure we put forth that love so it will increase within our hearts tenfold. What sources can you continually rely on to reconnect with God and His love for you? What steps can you take to intentionally connect with Him on a daily, weekly, and regular basis? My prayer is that we better understand how vast God’s love for us and the strength it can provide. Amen.