The Measure of God’s Love
A Bible Study on Ephesians 3:17-19
By Major Beth Desplancke
Territorial Women’s Ministries Department
February is the month when we place a lot of emphasis on the concept of love. What is love? How do you measure love? For some, love is measured in time – how many days, months or years you have been in love with someone. Perhaps love is measured in things. The number of gifts or the size of the diamond is how you measure love.
God’s love, the perfect demonstration and example of true love, is unmeasurable and boundless.
- Read Ephesians 3:14-21
This is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians believers, and it is a prayer for us. Let’s focus on verses 17b-19 and look at the measure of God’s love.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how WIDE and LONG and HIGH and DEEP is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses all knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
1. God’s love is wide.
Read the following verses to see how wide God’s love is.
- John 3:16-17
- Galatians 3:28
- 2 Peter 3:9
God’s love is so wide it encompasses everyone – all sinners! No one is left out from God’s love. The Bible doesn’t say that God so loved some, but that He loved the world and He desires for everyone to come to repentance. There are no limits to who is included in the wideness of God’s love.
2. God’s love is long.
When we think of God’s love being long, we think about how long it lasts or endures. Read the following verses about the length of God’s love:
- Psalm 117:1-2
- Psalm 136:1-3
- Jeremiah 31:3
- Lamentations 3:22-23
- Romans 8:38-39
3. God’s love is high.
Height doesn’t just mean how tall, but also means to the utmost of something, to the highest level. This means the quality of God’s love surpasses anything we’ve ever known. God’s love is never going to let us down.
Read the following verses to learn about the height of God’s love.
- Psalm 33:5
- Psalm 36:5, 7 a
- Psalm 103:11
- Psalm 108:4
- Psalm 119:64
4. God’s love is deep.
- Read Romans 5:6-8 to see the great depths of God’s love for us.
Jesus left the glories of heaven to come to earth, and live with us, and to die for us. What a solid and real love. It is not shallow.
Musician Billy Crockett, on his album “The Basic Stuff” from 1989 has a song entitled, “The Depth of God’s Love.” He writes:
The depth of God’s love reach down, down, down
To where we are until we’re found, found, found, found.
A quiet word, or none at all,
Pursues the heart behind the wall,
And to those who wait with darkness all around,
The depth of God’s love reaches down.
The depth of God’s love is demonstrated by His willingness to send His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins. To love is to care, and to love deeply is to care deeply. God demonstrates His love for us by forgiving deeply.
Read the following verses to discover the depth of God’s forgiveness of our sins.
- Micah 7:9
- 1 John 1:9
What Paul is telling us in Ephesians 3:17-19 is that the love of God is too large to be confined by any measurement. This is how one anonymous song explains the measurement of God’s love.
God’s love is as high as the heavens,
God’s love is as deep as the sea,
God’s love is for all kind of sinners,
God’s love is sufficient for me.
God’s love, God’s love,
God’s love is sufficient for me, for me;
God’s love, God’s love,
God’s love is sufficient for me.
God’s love is as wide as creation,
God’s love is as boundless and free,
God’s love, it can never be measured,
God’s love is sufficient for me.
God’s love brought His Son down from Heaven,
God’s love let Him die on the tree;
God’s love, it has bought my salvation,
God’s love is sufficient for me.
(The Salvation Army Songbook 2015 edition #24)
Download the PRINTABLE VERSION of this Bible Study.
Note: Also on our website is GOD’S LOVE LETTER devotional and a VALENTINE HEART GARLAND craft that coordinates with this Bible Study.
