“So
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that
you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to
comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length
and height and depth, and to
know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may
be filled up to all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19
Over
sixty-two million miles covers forty-six percent of Earth’s surface. With the deepest point reaching over seven
miles below the surface, it is no surprise why the Pacific is the largest
ocean. A weekend ago, I had the
opportunity to see it for the very first time, and I was just looking out at it
from a beach. What small portion that I
did view absolutely filled me up. While
I grew up riding the surface and fishing freshwater lakes, I have always
maintained an admiration for the vast oceans.
It fills me to the brink and I can contain the entire ocean within me.
Obviously,
I am referring to the essence of the ocean, not the water itself. Everything about these beautiful and pristine
tides, I can pack down deep inside of me.
The majesty. The mysteries. The bountiful life. While there is so much of it, a lot still
beyond my own comprehension, I can still wrap myself around it all. If I can do that, I can hold something even larger. What could possibly be larger than the
oceans? God’s love!
From
the moment that we choose to live a life in God’s light, we choose to put God
inside of us. Once we have repented of
our old ways, confessed to the grace of Christ’s sacrifice for us, and our
baptized and cleansed of our sins, we open ourselves up so that God may step
inside.
How
is this possible? God is so much bigger
than us! How can a being that vast fit
inside a tiny thing like me? We are God’s
vessels. 2 Corinthians 4:7 refers to us
as “earthen vessels” (or clay jars) that is filled with a power that can only
come from God, not ourselves. Unlike
most containers that we may use in our day to day lives, these vessels have no
lid to close it. That only serves as a
block and limit of what we can contain.
As is, we are made to be open.
Open to God’s amazing power and His unbounded love.
Another name is given for that divine being destined to live inside of
us: The Holy Spirit. It is the essence
of Christ. It is the part that opens to
allow the works of Christ to come forth out of us. It allows us to extend His love to others and
not turn away in someone’s time of need.
It is an endless ocean, from which the waters will never run down.
There
are times that we all create some sort of stopper to bottle up our personal
vessels. That is poisonous to our hearts
and dangerous for our spirits. We need
to ensure that we are not trying to find a way to plug up the eternal waters of
God’s glory from our lives. Instead, we
need to keep making that opening even wider and let more room for His Spirit to
dwell.
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