FOUR DIMENSIONS OF GODS LOVE
by Stan Smith
Paul prayed that we might comprehend the love of God in four dimensions: length, breadth, height, and depth. On one level, the prayer appears unanswerable, for he asks God to enable us to “know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.”
The Greek word here talks about the kind of knowledge we gain through experience. It isn’t just research, information, or academic knowledge. It’s a life transformed by the love of God, and then a going deeper and deeper into Him.
The Ephesians were already saved, and in measure they already knew God’s love. But Paul was praying that they would know and experience more.
Paul lists four dimensions in which we can experience God’s love. Two are horizontal, length and breadth; these speak of what we do on earth, and include our ministries and relationships. Two are vertical, height and depth; these speak of our encounters with God in prayer and worship, and the moments when His Spirit falls upon us unexpectedly.
Each dimension suggests a very practical way we can make room for more of God in our lives.
The horizontal dimensions:length and breadth.
These roughly correspond to quality and quantity. There is a side of God’s love to be seen in both.
I met an evangelist who had researched the pedestrian traffic patterns in NYC at various hours of the day. Based on the numbers, he would park his car at a busy intersection, stand on the hood, and shout a hellfire-and-damnation message through a bull-horn. “Are people getting saved?” I asked.
“No,” he sighed. “People are hard.” Then he brightened. “But in the hour between noon and one, I preach the gospel to a hundred and fifty thousand people. The churches aren’t reaching them…”
Neither are you,I thought.
There’s something in our thinking that would say, “If it’s good to preach to ten people, it’s better to preach to a hundred; better still, a thousand…” There’s something in our thinking that would say, “If God used me in three healings last month, I need to believe Him for six next month.” So we look for bigger crowds and better statistics to prove the fruitfulness of our ministries.
Make no mistake: God is a God of increase. We need to expect Him to do more than we have seen before. As Jesus said, if we are fruitful, He will work in our lives to cause us to bear more fruit.
But there is another dimension to our increase, a dimension we may not be able to measure with numbers. If length is the horizontal dimension we can measure with statistics, breadth is a quality dimension that can be hard to put into words.
For the last few months, I’ve been posting an online school of the Spirit. The monthly assignment includes two actions we can count: to soak 10-15 times each month, and to edify, exhort, or comfort 20 people.
Would we be more effective if we soaked every day, or if we tried to minister to 30 people each month instead of just 20? Maybe, or maybe not. There comes a point at which we can add activity to our schedules, only to subtract from our fruitfulness. We become cold and mechanical, numbers-driven when we need to be moved with compassion, dry and dead when we need to be anointed.
These are all quality issues, and we can’t put a number on them. But it is as important to grow in these areas as to grow numerically. This is why Paul prayed for us to let the love of God permeate us not only in length, but also in breadth.
Pace yourself. The key to a more effective ministry may be for you to do less and to love more. A little bit in the anointing will accomplish far more than a lot in the flesh.
The vertical dimensions: height and depth.
If there are two horizontal dimensions where we need to explore God’s love, there are two vertical dimensions as well. This puzzled me at first; up and down seemed to be a single dimension to me. My thinking reflected what I had learned in high school geometry classes.
Heaven is in a height that represents a different kind of up. The issue isn’t geometry or astronomy. It’s a kingdom filled with resources available to people who enter into covenant relationship with God.
Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is “at hand.” It’s here and it’s now. Those of us who have learned to reach into the heavens and use what God has laid in store for us see the sick healed, captives set free, and the guilty forgiven. We receive wisdom that helps us live our lives. We find strength to make tough but righteous decisions, and to find joy even when we face crushing situations.
The apostle John saw the heavenly city, New Jerusalem, coming down. He saw all sorts of things in the city: the glory of God, the Lamb of God enthroned, a river of living water that flowed from the throne, and trees bearing twelve kinds of fruit and bringing healing to nations.
This is the dimension of height, the vertical dimension where Paul prayed that we would find the love of God.
But depth is the other vertical dimension, the place where each of us becomes a miniature replica of the heavenly city. Is there a glory in the New Jerusalem? Christ in us is the hope of glory. Is Christ enthroned in heaven? So let Him be enthroned in our hearts – and from there, rivers of the Spirit flow out of us, making us fruitful and giving us a healing role wherever God sends us.
Height is heaven, where God’s will is done. Depth is in us; as Jesus has called us to pray, may the will of God be done in us just as it is in heaven.
The challenge of Paul’s prayer.
Sometimes you meet people who have an indefinable something about them that lets you know God is with them. You can’t measure it with numbers – how many people they lead to Christ, how many hours they spend in prayer, how many gifts of the Spirit they move in.
God is a deep God. If we live only in the realm of numbers, counting our accomplishments in Him, we are measuring ourselves with a superficial yardstick.
Artists know better than to do this. Tell a musician, “I produce ten new songs every month,” and a real musician will wonder, Are any of the songs any good? It is ironic that artists understand this, but few Christians do.
If you can say, “I spent fifteen hours waiting on God last month,” the question is, did you get to know Jesus better? If you can say, “I ministered to 20 people last month,” the question is, did they see Jesus?
The true measure of spiritual growth is God’s love. As you commit yourself to knowing Him in all four dimensions, you will find that a simple commitment to soak 10-15 times a month or to minister to 20 people will sometimes bear fruit in a dimension you weren’t focused on.
For more fruit, don’t focus on doing more. Pace yourself, and ask God to pour more of His love and power through you. Then let God grow you in any way He chooses. It’s all good.
Suggested Resource: God Loves You With An Everlasting Love
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
GospelSmith is the ministry of Stan & JoAnn Smith of Avila Beach, CA. They have a rich gift mix: preaching, teaching, moving in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, prophetic art and music, and more. They have ministered to many nations.
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