Our problem is that, like astronomers before Hubble, we are so earth-bound with this world’s concerns that the atmosphere around us distorts our view of God’s love. Our lusts for rusting treasures, our worries over life’s issues, our yearning for yet one more pleasure render us unable to comprehend love’s measure without the assistance of the Spirit of God. Like a telescope, we need God’s Spirit to take the enormity of God’s love and focus it down into our hearts so that we can grasp more of the measure of what Christ has done for us.
In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched, making it unique among attempts to peer into the universe. As Hubble orbits the Earth, it does so above the atmosphere, which distorts and even blocks the light that reaches our planet and is what makes the stars seem to twinkle. This orbit allows Hubble to give a view of the galaxies that far surpass that of conventional telescopes on the ground that struggle with atmospheric distortion.
So 353 miles above the Earth, Hubble orbits our globe every 97 minutes (which is about five miles per second, meaning it goes across the United States in about 10 minutes). Hubble has caused the knowledge of outer space to explode, as it has captured images never seen before of newly discovered galaxies and space phenomenon. Scientists have realized what is out there is far more beautiful, complex, and grand in magnitude than they had even imagined. For instance, they discovered there are ten times more galaxies in the observable universe. Who knows what lies beyond what our telescopes can observe now? It took getting beyond earth’s atmosphere for scientists to see new things.
As the Hubble telescope is to astronomy, so is the Spirit to the heart of a Christian. That is what Paul wanted the people in the church at Ephesus, whom he loved dearly, to realize. In order for them to comprehend the magnitude of the love of Christ found in the gospel, they needed more of the Spirit’s help. Paul said he bowed his knees and prayed to the Father so that God
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 (Eph. 3:16-19).
Our problem is that, like astronomers before Hubble, we are so earth-bound with this world’s concerns that the atmosphere around us distorts our view of God’s love. Our lusts for rusting treasures, our worries over life’s issues, our yearning for yet one more pleasure render us unable to comprehend love’s measure without the assistance of the Spirit of God. Like a telescope, we need God’s Spirit to take the enormity of God’s love and focus it down into our hearts so that we can grasp more of the measure of what Christ has done for us.
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