You Must Be Rooted First

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” – Ephesians 3:17-19

Can we understand or judge God’s love when we don’t believe in Him?

I don’t remember who I heard it from first, but I remember when I was growing up hearing,

“Don’t judge someone’s actions until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.”

It’s a pretty common saying. It conveys the idea that we don’t really understand what someone is going through when they decide to do something and, but when we take the time to try to understand, we may find that what they did wasn’t so bad…it may even seem reasonable or good.

I’m not trying to make an argument for relativistic morality. There is such a thing as objective truth and objectively moral or immoral actions. What I want to get at is a certain irony I’ve found. That is that many people who say we need to walk a mile in someone’s shoes before we judge feel perfectly fine judging God’s actions without even believing in Him, let alone trying to walk a mile in His shoes (if that were possible).

The truth is, we can’t begin to understand God’s love for us until we are rooted and established in His love.

Why not?

Sin – We cannot begin to understand God’s love until we can see sin for what it truly is. I can’t understand what it means to forgive someone if I don’t understand how they were wronged. At the same time, we can’t begin to understand God’s wrath until we can see sin for what it is. Without being rooted in Christ, we don’t understand sin…we usually try to excuse it or call it good.
Sinfulness – No, I didn’t forget what I just wrote for number one. We cannot understand God’s love for us because we are so warped by sin. Without believing in Jesus, we are literally enemies of God. People don’t see the good in their enemies.
Death – Without being rooted in Jesus we are spiritually dead. We only have glimpses of what love is and they are glimpses through dead eyes.
Lack of Experience – Hearing about God’s love is one thing, experiencing it takes it to a whole new level.

So, I too pray that you would begin to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. To do that, you first need to be rooted and established in Christ through faith. So, first I pray that you would be rooted and established in Jesus through faith.

The same is true of your neighbor who doesn’t know Jesus. Pray for them. Love them. Tell them about Jesus so that they, too, can begin to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.

Dear Jesus,

Abide in me that I may abide in You. Give me faith to believe and then help me to understand Your great love. Be also with those who do not know You as their savior. I especially pray for…

(name some people you know who do not believe in Jesus)

Give them faith to believe so that they would know Your love.

Amen.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

You Must Be Rooted First

Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL serving Lutz, Zephyrhills, Land O’ Lakes, and New Tampa, FL