Ephesians 3:17-19
"...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 saints, 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."
What kind of love is "rooted and established?" Paul specifically mentioned that we need to understand God's love "together with all the saints." Love cannot come out by us pondering about how to do it; we need to experience and enjoy love with brothers and sisters. Many people have the wrong concept: "I just want to love God, not people, but loving people is too troublesome." This is really two sides of the same coin - You can't possibly just love God and not love people. One who loves God will follow God's command to love people like loving themselves. A life with love can be revealed in three ways:
1. A life of love is one that accepts others. Love of the Lord is a love of acceptance; when Jesus was on earth, the first thing He did when we started serving people is to accept those who were in need. Not only did He accept the tax collector Zaccheus whom no one liked, he also accepted the elderly scholar of Nicodemus. Not only did He accept the ordinary and rude fisherman Peter, He also accepted Paul who persecuted the church. He didn't distant Himself from the Samaritan woman because of her sins, nor did he reject Peter because Peter denied Him three times. Although we were also not worthy, He was still willing to accept us into God's kingdom. If the Lord can accept us, we should also accept one another.
2. Life of love is one that helps others. Lord was always willing to help those who were in need; faced with a congregation that was hungry, He used five bread and two fish to feed five thousand people. When the wedding banquet ran out of wine, He turned water into great wine. When He saw people who were sick, He touched them with His hands and healed their disease. Even when He sacrificed Himself on the cross, He did it to save us from the bondage of sin. Since the Lord was willing to sacrifice Himself to help us, we should also sacrifice ourselves to help others. What does sacrifice mean? Some people define it as "when we don't have enough, we still help others." It is impossible according to people of the world, but according to God's values, that is what people in the Kingdom of God ought to do.
3. Life of love is one that forgives others. The Lord loves to forgive; when we were still sinners, the Lord died for us and revealed God's love to us. If the Lord can forgive us for what we've forsaken Him, we should also forgive those who've forsaken us. Matthew 5:44 says that "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..." The first step of forgiveness is to pray. Once you are willing to submit to God and pray for the enemy, the Holy Spirit will move within your heart. God's love will release you from hatred and let you have joy again. May the Lord put such love inside your heart!
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