When I think of the greatness of this great plan I fall on my knees before God the Father (from whom all fatherhood, earthly or heavenly, derives its name?, and I pray that out of the glorious richness of his resources he will enable you to know the strength of the spirit’s inner re-enforcement- that Christ may actually live in your hearts by your faith. And I pray that you, firmly fixed in love yourselves, may be able to grasp (with all Christians) how wide and deep and long and high is the love of Christ- and to know for yourselves that love so far beyond our comprehension. May you be filled though all your being with God himself!

Now to him who by his power within us is able to do far more than we ever dare to ask or imagine- to him be glory in the Church through Jesus Christ forever and ever, amen!

Ephesians 3:14-21 {Phillips}

The second half of Ephesians 3 is packed full of valuable, life-giving truths, but today I’m going to put a deeper twist on Paul’s words and share a message of radical love.

Are you ready to get radical? I can’t help but wonder what the world could be if we were people who truly grasped exactly how wide, deep, long and high is God’s love for us. If we were so full of God’s love, a love far beyond our comprehension, that our entire being is literally filled through with God Himself.

I wonder if, when Paul prayed that we will know a glorious inner strenth {MSG}, he might have known that sometimes loving someone would take an inner strength that can only come from the Spirit and knowing the depth of God’s love for ourselves.

Because the truth is, there are people that do things that make it impossible for us to muster love for them. That’s a hard truth, but it is truth. We’re human.

I wonder though, if we allow ourselves the faith it might take to let the Spirit fill us to excess with God’s incomprehensible love…could we then offer that same radical love, a love far beyond anyone’s comprehension, to those seemingly undeserving of it?

Undeserving of course is a matter of degree. There are “smaller situations”…gossip, a misspoken word, a misunderstanding, a wrong look…you know what I’m speaking of. But today I’d like us take stock in how we feel about some of life’s “harder situations.” We could be right in the middle of the situation, we might be on the periphery looking in, or we may simply have an opinion while reading about it in our local paper.

Affairs
Murder
Addictions
Theft
Rape
A drunk driver killing a family

What if a person did something so horrific that everyone turned their backs on them and no one was left loving them?

Again, I have to wonder what the world could be if we, as a body of believers, decided to love these people…not their acts of wrongdoing. Imagine if we could put down our own stones, drop all condemnation, radically love, and say, “Sin no more.” {John 8:3-11}

I wonder if we pointed people towards Christ with a showing of radical love, rather than judgement, how much further that message could reach?

We have been called to love each other as Jesus loves. As the Sidewalk Prophets song says:

I am the thorn in Your crown, but You love me anyway.
I am the sweat from Your brow, but You love me anyway.
I am the nail in Your wrist, but You love me anyway.
I am Judas’ kiss, but You love me anyway.

If we can’t love each other in the hard stuff, through the hard stuff…how are we going to love each other through smaller misunderstandings?

Has someone hurt you beyond repair? Has someone done something that’s caused you to turn your back on them?

I believe when we have full faith {complete confidence and trust} in God’s love for us… His perfect love, His great love, His miraculous love, His mysterious love…when we are filled through all our being with God Himself, we can love others under any circumstance because His radical love is coursing through us.

Radical love…it’s a tough thing! But as Paul said, “With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine.” {NCV}

Jesus loves radically. Do we?

Tracie is a child of God, mother of four daughters, photographer, blogger, twitterer, living with MS…and blessed beyond belief! You can find her blogging at {tsi} photography or on twitter as tmstier. Her newly released e-book is 31 Days of Faith {finding joy in your anguish}. She adores her Good Morning Girls, Amy and Stacey…together with a team of amazing women, they write a blog for Mothers of Daughters called the MODsquad.