Like the Ocean

Published: June 21, 2023, 5:10 a.m.

b'The ocean makes me nervous. I really don\\u2019t like movies where people are lost at sea\\u2014especially if they\\u2019re stuck on some sort of tiny raft and no one knows how\\xa0to find them. How awful would that be? The sky, huge above you, could release a\\xa0storm at any moment. The waves stretch out in every direction, with no end in sight. And you know the water goes down, down, down for\\xa0miles, and there are thousands of creatures you can\\u2019t see or even imagine\\u2014some of which might like to eat you. Did I mention the ocean makes me nervous?\\n\\n\\n\\nBut there\\u2019s a Bible passage, that I really like, that actually reminds me of the ocean. In Paul\\u2019s letter to the church in Ephesus, he says, \\u201cI pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord\\u2019s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to\\xa0know this love that surpasses knowledge\\u2014that you may be filled to the measure of\\xa0all the fullness of God\\u201d (Ephesians 3:17-19).\\n\\n\\n\\nWhen I think about trying to grasp how high and long and wide and deep God\\u2019s love is, I think about the ocean. God\\u2019s love reaches higher than the skies. It stretches farther than the farthest shore. It descends deeper than any ocean crevice. And it\\u2019s okay that we can\\u2019t fathom it. How could we? It\\u2019s so amazing. It\\u2019s so wonderful.\\xa0God\\u2019s love is incredible\\u2014and His love is for\\xa0us. He loves\\xa0us\\xa0with that unending, unimaginable, unfathomable love.\\n\\n\\n\\nHow do we know for sure that God loves us this much? Because of Jesus. God\\xa0came in human flesh and lived among us. He was willing to die a death He didn\\u2019t deserve because it was the only way for our broken relationship with Him to be restored. Because even though our sin separated us from God, even though we rebelled against Him on purpose, even though humanity wanted nothing to do with God, His love for us didn\\u2019t shrink back. He wanted to rescue us from our own\\xa0selfishness. He came, He died...and He rose again, defeating sin and death once and\\xa0for all. That\\u2019s the love that\\u2019s bigger than oceans. The love that reaches out to us, no matter how far we go. The love that comes for us, no matter how low we sink. The love that promises to raise us up in glory with our Lord, the Creator of the sky and the sea.\\xa0\\u2022 Hannah Howe\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u2022 If we\\u2019ve put our trust in Jesus, we can know we are surrounded by His incredible love (Psalm 32:10). Can you think of a time you felt sure that God loved you? If nothing comes to mind, you can ask God to reveal His love to you anytime\\u2014He delights in answering these prayers!\\n\\n\\n\\n"...how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ." Ephesians 3:18 (NIV)\\n\\n\\n\\nRead Psalm 148:7, Ephesians 3:14-21, and Psalm 36:5'