The Full Measure of God
I’ve been loving God and desirous of living my life to know Him and please Him for many years now, but I don’t feel that my soul has barely approached the fullness of the measure of God. I’ve met a lot of people, and read from even more, who are desperate in their pursuit of knowing God, but I don’t think of one that I believe has been filled to the full measure of God in their lives. I’ve never really thought that there was truly a full level that we could reach before heaven.
One phrase in Paul’s beautiful prayer for the Ephesians goes like this,“and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filledto the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). There is ameasure in your inner man, and it was created to hold the fullness of God andHis love. It has a filling point. Do you know what it is like to experience fullness?Do you know the experience of emptiness? How do you fill up on God? What wouldit be like to be filled up to the measure of the fullness of God? I think Davidmust have felt it when he wrote, “my cup overflows” (Psalm 23:5).It must be possible to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God evenon earth.
Perhaps David’s Psalm shows the way. You must pay attention to God’slove as it is given. David compared his relationship with God as if he were asheep and God were his shepherd. He witnessed the ways God tenderly gave himhis daily provisions of food, drink, rest and protection. When was the last timeyou celebrated that God gives you air to breathe, beauty to take in, sunrises,animals, and all the wonders of this world? David also explains how God directsyou to a path. There is no other path. If you are taking another way to God besidesthe Path of Righteousness for His Name’s Sake, you will not befilled to the full measure of the fullness of God. It’s not an easy pathbecause our flesh will fight us every step that we take. It can be an easy pathto take when you admit you are powerless to walk in it and ask God to help youput each step in front of the other. Walking the Path of Righteousness willrequire that you give up on your quest to look good, be well thought of, or impressman. The sole motivation for walking this path must be for the glory of God’sgreat name to be praised. To be filled up to the full measure of God, your pathwill definitely lead to the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Sufferingis part of every one of our journeys. But, suffering is the necessary passagewayto the table that is prepared before you in the presence of your enemies.
My question is, what measure of God and His love would your gauge indicate? Areyou like David, just overwhelmed that his cup is overflowing and knowing as acomplete fact, as he knows nothing else, so certain that goodness and mercy willfollow him all the days of his life?
The measure of the fullness of God in our lives is possible to feel. I want topray Paul’s prayer over you. Ephesians 3:14-21 “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 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. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” |
