“For
this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven
and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant
you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and
grounded in love, may have strength 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, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:14-19 ESV
This month marks the beginning of my
14th year, serving as pastor at the Mt. Pleasant Church of the
Brethren. As I recently read through the
passage above, I thought about how this passage still articulates my desire for
those whom I have the privilege of serving.
I desire most of all for them that Christ would dwell in their hearts
through faith, and that being rooted and grounded in love, that they would be
able to grasp more and more of the knowledge of the love of Christ, a love that
beyond us understanding completely, but is no less true, and that each one
would be filled with all the fullness of God.
What greater thing could a pastor
want for the congregation he serves? Not
only is this passage indicative of what I hope for the congregation, but what I
attempt to develop in the congregation.
All the messages, all the one on one conversations, all the Bible
Studies, fellowship events and work projects, are geared at helping the
congregation come to the place of being rooted and grounded in the Word of God
that teaches us about the love of God, the love that he wants us to have for
one another.
It’s been my joy to see this happen
in individuals along the way; to see them grow in their faith, to see their
faith mature, and hold them up through the difficulties that life brings our
way. It’s been my joy to see their faith
lived out in their lives, to hear their faith expressed in the various settings
we experience in the life of a church.
It’s my hope, for as long as the
Lord allows me to continue to serve this congregation that we can continue down
this road of comprehending “the breadth and length and height and depth” of the
love of God and that they will become more and more “filled with all the
fullness of God”. The journey isn’t
always easy and smooth, but it’s in those times of uphill climbs that we learn
a great deal more about our Lord, and about ourselves and our dependence upon
Him. May God bless the years that
remain.
By
His Grace Alone,
Pastor
Bruce Jacobsen
