Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

This is a continuation of yesterday’s devotional, Law of Love. It will make more sense if you have read that one first.

Return once again to the plane that overcomes gravity and flies high in the heavens. Can anyone get on board while the plane is cruising at forty thousand feet? No, it has to be on the ground, at the gate. That is the same sense of being grounded in love. Not to be high minded, putting on airs, but rather being open, available, accessible, and demonstrating the love that is in you by the grace of God.

Only when we remain firmly grounded on the Rock of our salvation can we discover our true new nature, this new creation having been born again. The essence of being grounded in love is to be your true self, the one God has captured with His love.

Love that acts like itself is true to what abides in our hearts. He has declared us His children and as such has given us the ability to act as His children. That fact remained hidden from me for years. I didn’t want to believe it because I had not forgiven myself for all the wrong choices I had made in this life. When I finally came to a point of finding forgiveness for myself, I discovered what true freedom meant.

If God could forgive me, why couldn’t I forgive myself? I had not embraced the love that dwelt in me. I did not believe. Then He helped my unbelief. I was free to believe I am truly changed in my heart. All I had to do was respond to that part of me that is the most precious gift, His abiding love.

James 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

James came closer than the other writers to saying the law of love. I wish someone had, so that it would become clear that love rules our actions. When asked what is the greatest commandment Jesus answered love God and the second is like the first, love one another.

Colossians 3:14-16 (ESV) And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Paul hints of it strongly here in Colossians without coming right out and calling it the law of love. I know that many will resist putting the words love and law together because they enjoy this new found freedom in Christ but we are set free from sin, not love.

Let me try to explain my point in this way. There are natural laws and manmade laws. Take the law of gravity as an example. Gravity can be overcome with effort. Planes fly expending great amounts of fuel. Rockets lift man to great heights where gravity has the least amount of effect, but it still exists. Orbits deteriorate and satellites fall, gravity is still the law.

God is love and He dwells in your heart and that love never changes. Agape love acts in a predictable, consistent manner, and never stops being perfect in performance. Because His love is gentle we can overcome it with much less effort than it takes to overcome gravity.

The more effort we put into overcoming agape love the less and less its influence is felt until we get so lofty that it does not appear to be in us at all.