Dwell. Rooted. Strength.
“...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth… (of the love of Christ)” Ephesians 3:17-18 (19)
Dwell.
When something dwells somewhere, it doesn’t mean it’s going to stay temporarily. Dwelling means more permanency. Our homes are where we dwell, where we go at the end of each day to sleep and eat and be comfortable. That is how we want Christ to come in our hearts. We don’t let him in as a guest in a hotel, each day being uncertain about whether or not he can stay. We want him to be at home in our hearts permanently. It’s an understatement to say it’s an honor that God would dwell in us! Before Christ, God’s dwelling place was among his people (1). But now God’s Spirit is able to live within us (2)! With his Spirit guiding our hearts which way to go, we don’t face this life alone. We are completely surrounded by his wisdom, his grace, and his love.
Rooted.
So we root ourselves in his love. It’s another more permanent description. Roots take time to grow. It doesn’t happen overnight. When we come across a large oak tree, we don’t expect the next big wind to be able to knock it over. And sometimes we can even see some of the great extent its roots has. That’s what we want! We want to dig deep and root ourselves in Christ’s love. It grounds us! God’s love for us in Jesus is so strong that nothing could separate us from it (3); his love looks at us when we’re caught up in our own earthly lives and tries to guide us back to him (4); and his love comforts us more than anything else could (5). So we root ourselves in it, and we stand firm.
Strength.
When we let Christ dwell within us and when we root ourselves in love, we then have strength to truly understand the depths of God’s love. We know his love from our side of the story, everything that his love does for us. But have we stopped to think about it from God’s side? God gives us the strength to understand how far he would go for us, for us to understand that we can absolutely trust him. And the Bible tells us. He watched us leave, as he commanded, the garden that was meant to be a place for us to dwell with him (6). He constantly bent down and helped us, leading us in love, though we didn’t acknowledge him (8). And he so loved us that he gave his own Son so that we could come back to him and live with him eternally, free from sin (8)(9). But the strength we have to understand this is not by ourselves– it’s with all the saints, those who are also made clean by God! The riches of what God gives us if we are in him are too numerous to count.
When we are in Christ, he dwells within our hearts, guiding us. We root ourselves in his love, knowing that there is nothing else in this earth that is more sure. And with God’s strength and with all the saints, we are able to realize some of the depths of God’s incredible love for us.
(1) - Exodus 25:8, 29:45
(2) - John 14:17
(3) - Romans 8:38-39
(4) - Mark 10:21
(5) - Philippians 2:1
(6) - Genesis 3:23
(7) - Hosea 11:1-4
(8) - John 3:16
(9) - Ephesians 5:25-26
