Ephesians 3:16-19
“I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
A lot of us have love on our minds during the month of February, especially around the 14th. But let’s talk about different kinds of love and one that is particularly impactful in this passage of scripture.
In the Greek, there are three words for love; all with different meanings. First is phileo which refers to friendship (Philadelphia…city of brotherly love) The second is eros which refers to romantic (erotic) love. The third is agape, which is what Paul is referring to in his letter to the church at Ephesus. What does agape mean and why is it important here ?
Agape characterizes the love of God. I found this definition: “Unselfish esteem of the object loved. It’s Christ’s love for us. Which is undeserved and without thought of return.” In other words, it’s Grace. At Faith In Practice we practice agape love when we take the love that Jesus gave at the cross and in turn give it away to those we serve without any thought of repayment or return. Just like he did for us when he first loved us. Unconditional love that doesn’t demand repayment. There’s no other way to serve without suffering, burnout or exhaustion or performance anxiety.
It’s challenging for us to comprehend how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. We get a glimpse of this by seeing how many volunteers and patients come together that are originally separated by great distances. And we see this love that surpasses knowledge in the many instances where a seemingly impossible situation results in amazing restoration by God.
Many times these are unexplainable apart from God’s intervention. And in the earlier portion of this passage we are reminded that the strength and power of this healing comes from God‘s Holy Spirit resting on and dwelling in us. Tim Keller said “ through the Holy Spirit, he(Jesus ) becomes real to our hearts. His love is like, honey, or like wine. Rather than only believing that he is loving, we can come to sense the reality, the beauty, and the power of his love. His love can become more real to you than the love of anyone else. It can delight, galvanize, and console you. That will lift you up and free you from fear like nothing else.”
Let us lean into this supernatural agape love as our ultimate resource to serve our patients and glorify God in 2026.
Dr. Mark Woolf
