A secret to comprehending God's love for you

Do you want to know the depths of God's love for you? We all do. And we all know that the Bible is key to gaining that understanding. And part of gaining that understanding if found by studying the Bible and meditating on it.  But the Bible reveals to us that there is another necessary key to increasing our comprehension of His character. There is a principal in scripture that shows a connection between the depth of our own godly character and our ability to comprehend the depth of God's character. I have a name for this principal. I call it "The takes one to know one principal."

Notice here in Psalm 18 that first the godly characteristic was developed in the believer. Then when that character trait was developed then God showed that facet of His Holiness to that person. See the pattern. First the person became kind and then God showed Himself as kind. First the person was blameless and then God showed Himself as blameless. First the person became pure and then God showed Himself as pure.

Psalm 18:25-26
²⁵ With the kind You show Yourself kind; 
With the blameless You show Yourself blameless; 
²⁶ With the pure You show Yourself pure, 
And with the crooked You show Yourself astute. 

We can see this principal elsewhere in scripture too. First David faithfully provided for the various needs of the sheep in his care. And after he developed a faithfulness in caring about their needs then the Holy Spirit opened up his eyes to see that the Lord is his shepherd. David then took that revelation and wrote Psalm 23. So first a character trait was developed in David then he was able to obtain insight into the character of God.

I'd like you to read the passage below first then I will make comments on it. It is Ephesians 3:14-19. We will really concentrate on verses 17-19.

Ephesians 3:14-19
¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, ¹⁶ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.


Notice in verse 17 it says "...you being rooted and grounded in love,". In verse 18 it says " may be able to comprehend..." And in verse 19 it talks about knowing Christ's love which surpasses knowledge. Now at first glance this passage seems to contradict itself. How can you know something that surpasses knowledge. Well this is where the "Takes one to know one" principal comes into play. 

This knowledge of Christ's love can not be obtain through teaching / book knowledge alone. First your character must be "... rooted and grounded in love.." ( v.17). And this will give you the added ability to comprehend Christ's love (v.18). This comprehension is impossible unless your character increasingly mirrors His. So if you want to truly know the depths of God's love for you then you need to increase your comprehension by learning to love as He does.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)