Ephesians 3:17 Commentary and Bible Study

But then it has another purpose – the realisation of the indwelling of Christ. When we are trying, when we are living the life and praying for and receiving help, then comes this privilege – Christ will dwell in our hearts by faith, so that we rejoice in him and know his nearness, if we are attempting to make the effort and obey his commandments. What does it mean, the indwelling Christ? Thomas Watson put it so beautifully – A miser is defined as one who has money in his heart. That is what he sees, money and gain. That is the sense in which Christ is in the heart. A Christian is One who has Christ in his heart. He is the one he cherishes and sees and esteems. Do you have money in your heart, or do you have Christ in your heart? A proud man or woman has himself or herself in the heart. A sensuous person has comfort in his mind, in his heart. That is what he dreams of and aims at. A Christian is one who has Christ in his heart. You desire to see more of him, you speak much of him, you long that people around you will find him and glorify him. When there is a crisis or a time of grief or a great shock or a terrible depravation in your life, you see him and you think of him. He is in your heart. He is ever in your mind. You have Christ in you. That is the sense defined in a very practical way.‘That ye, being rooted and grounded in love’ – deeply rooted like a tree with spreading roots. To be rooted in love, so that our love for Christ is unshakeable by calamity, by difficulty, by temptation, by persecution. It all flows from this daily strengthening. I pray for you, he says, that you will be strengthened by God and it will lead to your love being deep rooted. And grounded – he is talking about the foundation of a building – grounded like a building, firm on our foundation, on our doctrinal foundation. But here what is in mind is our love for Christ.