“I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit. And that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:16-21
The notes in The Wesley Study Bible say this about these verses: “In concluding this half of the letter, Paul prays that: (1) the inner persons of his audience will be strengthened so that Christ may dwell within them through faith; (2) being established in love themselves, they might be enabled to grasp the scope of God’s amazing love, which surpasses knowledge; and (3) they will be filled with God’s fullness, ‘with all his light, love, wisdom, holiness, power, and glory. A perfection far beyond a bare freedom from sins’”
Strengthened by faith so that Christ might dwell within; God’s love established within we grasp the fullness (as E. Stanley Jones says, the fullness of the potential of the possibilities of God’s grace) of God’s love, filled to overflowing with this fullness (light, love, wisdom, holiness, power, and glory) ah, sweet sanctification. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of his glorious grace, that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” Ephesians 1:3-6
What are you full of, the hope, peace, joy and love of Christ or something less? In this Advent Season let us positively respond to God’s call and promise – let us be able to truly sing, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”