Live From Your True Self (Saturday)
Today's devotional comes from "Falling Into Goodness," a book of Lenten reflections by Chuck DeGroat. You can purchase the entire book on Amazon in paperback or for Kindle.
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, 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 3:16-19
New words catch my eye every time I read this extraordinary passage, perhaps my favorite in all the New Testament. Today it was the word “rooted.” At other times, “established.” Sometimes a phrase – “long and high and deep is the love.” There are untold treasures for you in multiple, slow readings of this text.
St. Paul is talking about something that happens in our “inner being.” Not in our church. Not in our kids. Not in our relationship (though each of these things will draw the benefits). No, the image here is of Christ dwelling in our hearts. And the implication is that we will experience profound rootedness, power, community, and a love that surpasses anything St. Paul could explain in a letter.
At this point in the Lenten season it’s likely that some of the original excitement about the prospect of this season for your growth has lost its fervor. You get busy. A Lenten devotional is put aside for more pressing matters. Maybe you’ve picked this up on a Saturday looking to salvage what’s left. I’m not sure where you are, but it doesn’t matter.
St. Paul’s prayer is that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you. Somehow, someway, God has a storehouse of grace for you and for me. Somehow, someway God knows that we need his grace to be strengthened. Could he know, right now, how busy and preoccupied you’ve been and still be gracious to you? Is that possible?
Do you hear God’s longing for you in this passage? Can you give yourself the gift of multiple readings, perhaps even noting what words stir in you as you read? God longs for you to dwell in and live from your deepest self, rooted and established in him. He longs for you to fall into the goodness of “the fullness of God.”
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Prayer:
God of glorious riches, strengthen me. Root me. Establish me. Dwell in me. Deepen your love in and through me, so that I might be a conduit of this love to all. Amen