DEEPER THAN THE SEA

Ephesians 3:14-21
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, 21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

The deepest hole in the deep blue sea is the Mariana Trench--nearly 7 miles down and several hundred miles off the cost of Guam. On January 23, 1960, Jacques Piccard and Donald Walsh climbed into a bathyscaphe and were lowered into the trench. The submarine-like vessel was designed to withstand extreme pressures and it required nearly 2 tons of cable to place it on the ocean floor. This manned descent into the depths set a world record that has never been equaled.

Mt. Everest, the world's highest mountain, stands at an altitude where many commercial jets fly--29,000 feet, or over 5 miles high. At its peak the air is so thin that mountain climbers need to bring oxygen in order to survive.

But the depth of the ocean is even more mind-boggling. The Mariana Trench is 2 miles deeper than Everest is high! Instead of being characterized by thin air, it has the crushing weight of millions of tons of water. The water pressure at the bottom of the trench is an intense 15,931 pounds per square inch.

Knowing these facts sheds a different light on a Bible passage about the love of God. Paul, in his letter to the church at Ephesus, challenged all believers "to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge" (Ephesians 3:18-19).

Trying to quantify the love of God, Paul was hard-pressed to describe it. One word Paul used is bathos--the Greek word for "depth." It described "the inscrutability or hiddenness as well as the vastness or greatness of something." In these verses, bathos refers to the sphere of God's love for us in Jesus.

God's love surpasses knowledge! The reason we can never reach the depths of God's love is that it is infinite. When you feel lonely and unloved, open a Bible and meditate on Ephesians 3:18-19. God's love for you is deeper than the Mariana Trench! --Dennis Fisher

DESTINATION POINTS

* When have I felt unloved?
* How does God's infinite love for me affect how lovable I feel?
* With whom can I share Ephesians 3:18-19 as encouragement?

LINKS:
Bathyscape
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathyscaphe

How Has God Loved Us?
http://www.discoveryseries.org/q0102

bottom line: God's love for me is deeper than the sea.

soul journey