The Strength to Comprehend God’s Love
Text: Ephesians 3:14–21
Introduction: Trying to Measure the Immeasurable
You know, we humans like to measure things. It’s in our nature. We want to know how much, how far, how deep, how high.
We measure how deep the ocean is. We measure how high the sky reaches. We even measure the distance between galaxies. We measure our height, our weight, our steps, our heart rate. If we can attach a number to it, we feel like we have control over it.
But there are some things you simply can’t measure.
How do you measure love? How do you quantify grace? How do you calibrate the mercy of God?
Paul prays in Ephesians 3 that the believers would have strength to comprehend — not to calculate, but to comprehend — “what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.”
That’s a strange prayer, isn’t it? To know something that surpasses knowledge.
Paul is saying, “I want you to be able to grasp what cannot be grasped.”
He’s inviting us to stand on the shores of God’s love and realize — this ocean has no bottom.
1. God’s Love Is Beyond Our Measurement
Paul begins his prayer in verse 14, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father.”
He’s on his knees because he realizes he’s standing before something vast. He’s not talking about a sentimental love, or a passing emotion. He’s talking about the eternal, self-giving, self-sacrificing love of God in Christ Jesus — a love that stretches beyond every category we can imagine.
Our love is finite.
God’s love is infinite.
Our love runs out when people hurt us too many times.
God’s love runs deeper every time we fail.
Paul says this love surpasses knowledge. It’s beyond your ability to measure.
But we try, don’t we?
We say things like, “I think I know how much God loves me — He forgave me that one time.”
But friend, God didn’t just barely cover your sin. He didn’t just sprinkle a little grace on top of your mess and call it good.
Romans 5:20 says, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
That means grace didn’t just meet sin where it was — it overflowed it.
You can’t measure that!
2. Our Problem: We Keep Trying to Build a Measuring System
You see, when Paul says he wants us to comprehend the vastness of God’s love with all the saints, he’s pushing back on a human tendency.
We love to compare, to measure, to rank.
We do this with people.
“If they don’t do it exactly the way I do, they’re wrong.”
“If they don’t worship like I worship, they must not love God as much.”
“If their theology isn’t lined up perfectly with mine, they must be off.”
We live in a world full of calibration labs.
Now, in the scientific world, calibration labs are fascinating places. They’re usually climate-controlled — every variable managed to perfection. Why? Because things change their measurement ever so slightly with temperature. Metal expands. Plastic contracts.
So, in order to get the perfect measure, you have to create a perfectly controlled environment.
But even then — even in NASA’s most precise labs — there is no absolute one inch. On a microscopic level, there are still hills and valleys.
There is no perfect standard.
And yet, in our spiritual lives, we try to create calibration labs.
We try to make everything controlled — predictable, measurable, contained.
We build a box and say, “This is how God moves.”
But Paul says, “No! His love surpasses knowledge.”
You can’t calibrate grace.
You can’t domesticate divine love.
3. The Ocean of His Love
Paul describes God’s love in dimensions — breadth, length, height, and depth — because he’s reaching for a metaphor big enough to hold it.
The best image we have for that is the ocean.
Now, there are different ways people experience the ocean:
Some just stand on the shore and watch it.
Some go fishing near the surface.
Some snorkel and see what’s under there.
Some scuba dive and go deeper.
And then there are those who venture out to the coasts of Australia and discover coral reefs that look like another world entirely.
All of them experience the same ocean — but not to the same depth.
That’s how it is with the love of God.
Some people are standing on the shore — they believe God loves them in theory.
Some go fishing — they draw from His love occasionally when they need something.
Some snorkel — they see glimpses of grace beneath the surface.
But God is calling us to go deeper. To dive in. To explore the vastness of His love that surpasses knowledge.
There’s always more room to swim.
4. The Goldfish and the Bowl
Let me illustrate it another way.
Have you ever seen a goldfish that’s been moved from a small bowl to a large tank?
At first, it keeps swimming in the same little circle — even though it’s now got a whole tank of water around it.
Why? Because it has learned the boundaries of its old bowl.
Sometimes we do that with God.
We place boundaries around Him — and then swim in circles.
We believe God’s love can only go this far.
We believe He can only forgive this much.
We believe He can only use this kind of person.
And God is saying, “Child, swim a little wider!”
There’s more grace than you imagined.
There’s more love than you thought possible.
And here’s the thing — a goldfish can live in a bowl, but it thrives when it’s in a larger space, surrounded by other fish, in clean, fresh water.
The purity of the water affects its growth. The more oxygen, the more life. The cleaner the water, the more vibrant the color.
So it is with us. The more we dwell in the pure love of Christ, the clearer, freer, and more alive we become.
5. Expanding the Bowl of Grace
Jesus said in Matthew 18:21–22 that we should forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven.
Why? Because He’s inviting us to expand the bowl.
“How big is your bowl?”
That’s a question worth asking ourselves today.
Is your bowl big enough for people who have hurt you?
Is your bowl big enough for someone who doesn’t believe exactly like you?
Is your bowl big enough for people who don’t vote like you, or worship like you, or look like you?
If we truly want to comprehend the love of God, we can’t keep our relationships small. We can’t keep our hearts confined to tiny bowls.
Because the more you comprehend His love, the more you realize — it’s not just about how much He loves you, but how much He loves them too.
6. Strengthened to Comprehend
Paul says in verse 16, “that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being.”
Notice that — it takes strength to comprehend love.
It’s not a weakness.
It’s not sentimental.
It’s not easy.
It takes divine strength to forgive someone who wounded you deeply.
It takes divine strength to stay tender-hearted in a cynical world.
It takes divine strength to believe that God hasn’t given up on you when you’ve failed for the tenth time.
This is not natural love. It’s supernatural.
It’s not something you work up. It’s something the Spirit works in you.
When Christ dwells in your heart by faith, you start to realize that His love isn’t just something you study — it’s something you live in.
It’s not something you measure — it’s something you experience.
And the more you experience it, the more your inner being is strengthened to stand in the storm.
7. Filled with the Fullness of God
Paul ends his prayer with this amazing phrase: “that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
What does that mean?
It means that as you grow in your comprehension of His love, you make more room for His presence.
The more you understand His mercy, the more merciful you become.
The more you understand His patience, the more patient you become.
The more you understand His forgiveness, the more forgiving you become.
You start to reflect the very nature of the One who fills you.
That’s what Paul means when he ends with that beautiful doxology:
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
When you really begin to comprehend His love — even just a taste of it — you realize that it’s more than you could ask or imagine.
Conclusion: Swim a Little Wider
Maybe today you’ve been living in a bowl.
You’ve believed God’s love could only reach so far.
Maybe you’ve been standing on the shore, content to watch the ocean from a distance.
But God is calling you deeper.
He’s saying, “There’s more room to swim.”
More grace.
More forgiveness.
More joy.
More love.
You can’t measure it, but you can live in it.
You can’t calculate it, but you can be filled by it.
So today, stop trying to measure the immeasurable.
Stop building calibration labs for grace.
And let the love of Christ flood every corner of your heart until it overflows.
Because the strength to comprehend His love isn’t about calculation — it’s about revelation.
It’s not about getting it perfect — it’s about getting in deeper.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for Your love that surpasses knowledge.
Thank You for grace that goes deeper than our sin and higher than our shame.
Lord, strengthen us by Your Spirit in our inner being.
Expand our hearts to comprehend the height, the depth, the width, and the length of the love of Christ.
Help us to swim a little wider — to love a little freer — to forgive a little deeper.
Fill us with all the fullness of God, until Your love flows through us into the world around us.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
