The Strength To Comprehend God’s Love

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.