|
“O love, how deep, how broad, how high, / Beyond all thought and fantasy, / That God, the Son of God, should take / Our mortal form for mortals’ sake!
“All glory to our Lord and God / For love so deep, so high, so broad; / The Trinity whom we adore / Forever and forevermore.”
The deepest known place in the earth’s oceans is the Pacific Ocean’s Challenger Deep, an area extending to a depth of 35,876 feet. The majestic Grand Canyon stretches 18 miles across at its widest points. What we call “outer space” is thought by some scientists to begin at about 62 miles above the earth. These are impressive distances, yet scientists have found ways to measure them.
God created the Challenger Deep and the Grand Canyon. He knows the depth and width of these features of earth’s geography. He created the world with its life-sustaining layer of air and He knows precisely where that atmosphere ends and space begins. Yet there is something far greater than these distances. Our hymn celebrates God’s love for the world He made. It is love so deep, wide, and high that it is “beyond all thought and fantasy.” According to His unimaginable, immeasurable love, God Himself took on “our mortal form for mortals’ sake,” taking on human flesh in the Person of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. For the sake of our salvation, the Son of God, through whom and for whom all things were created (see Colossians 1:16), humbled Himself to be conceived in a virgin’s womb. God the Son was born in Bethlehem and laid to sleep in a manger.
The deep, broad, and high love of God extended beyond the humble manger in Bethlehem, all the way to the cross. The apostle Paul writes, “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God, who in Eden decreed the penalty of death for sin, took on human flesh to take that penalty onto Himself. It is the penalty that we justly deserved for our sins, yet the Lord Jesus suffered death in our place so that we would receive forgiveness for our sins and the gift of eternal life. The apostle Paul prays that we “may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth” of the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:18). Such love is “beyond all thought and fantasy,” but the Holy Spirit leads us to look by faith to the cross of our Lord and to His empty tomb. That is where we will see, revealed for our salvation, the deep, broad, and high love of God.
WE PRAY: Lord, may Your immeasurable love be revealed in my life through the love I show to others. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler. It is based on the hymn, “O Love, How Deep,” which is number 544 in the Lutheran Service Book.
Reflection Questions:
- When you consider some of the world’s vast and amazing spaces, does it remind you of God’s creative power and the depth of His love for you? Can you elaborate?
- How is Jesus’ humility in taking on mortal flesh for our salvation an act that’s far beyond even the most spectacular wonders on this planet?
- When we forget the depth of God’s love for us, ask the Holy Spirit to revive your heart in faith and adoration toward God. He is our Helper and He will do it.
|
