December 20

of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. — Eph 3:19 BSB

The Apostle Paul, who had been caught up into the third heaven, where he saw glorious things and heard unspeakable words, exhausted human language in his attempt to describe the surpassing greatness of Christ’s love, yet he ultimately concludes, "It surpasses knowledge." And indeed, it must surpass knowledge—how could we fully comprehend something that is infinite? If Christ is God, and as such the equal of the Father, then His love is as infinite as God Himself.

Our love is limited, being the love of creatures, but God's love is as vast as His divine nature. It is infinite, and therefore beyond our comprehension. You may sometimes wonder, and it’s a wonder that will fill heaven itself with songs of eternal praise, how such a glorious Jesus could ever look down from heaven on such lowly, insignificant creatures like us—more than that, on such sinful creatures who have repeatedly provoked Him by our disobedience. That this exalted Christ, in all His glory, can look down from heaven on us poor, wretched creatures—this is a mystery that even astonishes the angels.

But it is Christ’s glory to love in this way. It is His special glory to bring His saints to heaven so that they may behold His glory and share in it. Therefore, it’s not because we are such undeserving creatures, or because we feel so utterly unworthy, that we should reject this love or question it by saying, "Can Christ really love someone like me? Can the glorious Son of God, from His dwelling place in heaven, cast an eye of pity and compassion on someone like me—someone who can hardly bear with themselves, who feels like one of the vilest of the vile, the worst of the worst? What must I be in the sight of the glorious Son of God?" And yet, He says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love."

This love has breadths, lengths, depths, and heights that are beyond our understanding. Its breadth exceeds all human span; its length stretches beyond any measure; its depth surpasses all we can fathom; and its height goes beyond even what the angels can comprehend.

This is precisely why Christ's love is so perfect for us. We need a love that can cover us entirely, that can reach down to our lowest depths, and that can carry us safely to heaven. A lesser love would be no love at all. We would exhaust it with our sins if it were not as vast as it is. Long ago, we would have out-sinned this love, drained it dry with our ingratitude, rebellion, and wrongdoing. But because Christ's love is so wondrous, so deep, so long, so wide, and so high, it is perfectly suited to meet every need and heal every wound.