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
I grew up with the idea God was a harsh taskmaster and distant deity.
It wasn’t my parents’ fault. They were loving people who never spoke of God in those terms. It wasn’t from church, either, since we rarely even went to a church in those days.
Somehow, those, I believed God as a mysterious entity, either forsaking us altogether or sitting back on His throne in heaven with His arms folded across His chest as He waited to pounce on us at the first hint of misdeed. I desperately wanted to believe in something beyond myself, but I had no idea what that meant.
As I grew up, my hunger for God drove my search for Him. Who was He? What did He look like? What would happen to me when I died?
I finally picked up a Bible, started in Genesis, and read it all the way through.
I was flabbergasted by what I read.
Every chapter and every book revealed a Person I could never have imagined.
From the pages of Scripture emerged a being so holy, so beautiful, so much more in every way, it took my breath away.
To Him I gratefully gave my heart.
Shortly after my conversion, I took a walk in my yard one lovely summer day. The clean rays of the sun bathed my small flower garden in sparkling light, beckoning me to join the splendor. I strolled around to my roses.
I had never really paid much attention to them before. Now they, like the whole world around me, seemed more alive. I felt quite literally like a new person, as if scales had fallen from my eyes.
I once lived as one born blind. Now, for first time in my life, I could really see.
Absorbing the wonder of it all, I gingerly clasped the stem of a thorny rose between my fingers and pulled it toward me. The petals danced in rosy hues of pink around a fragrant center. I bent down and breathed in deeply.
As its sweet aroma filled my senses, it occurred to me that this rose in all its delicate design came from the mind of my God. This both thrilled and intrigued me. What kind of a God could throw lightning down from the sky and yet craft something so fragile?
By then I understood He was my Savior. The idea that He could also be so amazingly creative, tender, powerful, and caring totally rocked my world. Saving people is just the beginning for Him. There is so very much more. Decades later, I realize I have still only just begun to fathom Him. It will take an eternity to plumb the depths and heights of this incredible King. His kingdom, like His great mind, is limitless.
Now I see why we have been given forever.
