[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience].
Ephesians 3:19a AMPC
My husband and I have been blessed to visit Hawaii several times because he has family there. Before we went the first time, I studied Hawaii. I was so excited. I had always wanted to go! I knew about it. I looked at pictures of it. I watched videos. I spent hours gazing at images of the trees, buildings, sunset, luaus, sea turtles, leis. All the things.
I thought I knew Hawaii. But when I got there, what I saw in my research did not even come close to experiencing it for myself. To see the stunning colors of the Pacific Ocean for the first time took my breath away. To physically touch the palm trees, smell the salty air, feel the sand between my toes, and smell the plumeria leis was far beyond anything I could ever fathom from looking through a book.
We can learn about God’s love through reading His book, but He wants us to do more than that. He longs for us to experience it for ourselves. He doesn’t just want us to know about Him. He wants us to come face to face with Him. To touch Him and sense Him and know Him from experience is what He wants for us.
It doesn’t come automatically, though. If it did, there would have been no need for Paul to pray for it to happen. But he prayed and so should we.
Let’s pray this together.
Father God, Your church in the city of Warren needs to experience Your love. We’re so thankful that You began to help them understand it yesterday, but we ask You to do more than that today. We want them to experience it, so we ask You to encounter them with Your love. Let Your love be as real to them today as the clothes they put on this morning. Saturate them with Your love. In Jesus’ Name, amen.
