And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Few people knew much, if anything, about Hunter “Patch” Adams before 1998. That’s when Universal Pictures cast Robin Williams in the lead role in a movie about Adams’ life.
In his book, Gesundheit!, Adams shares that, following a series of traumatic emotional experiences that caused him to become suicidal, he told his mother,
“I’ve been trying to kill myself. You’d better check me into a mental hospital.”
He continues,
“My mom called the family doctor, who called a psychiatrist, who admitted me to a locked ward at Fairfax Hospital. I spent Halloween there.”
Adams goes on to share about his roommate, Rudy, and the following two week period that became, in his opinion, the turning point of his life:
“Talking to Rudy, I realized the importance of love and the people who loved me. I had been surrounded by love but hadn’t let it affect me. I perceived a deep personal truth: I needed to be open to receive love. Without it I was not a strong person. And I realized that if I continued living as I had been – without tender, human love – I would end up like Rudy. He represented the Ghost of Christmas Future that I would become if I refused to surrender to my [need for love.]”
In his book, Adams never indicates that he’s a believer. Nonetheless, his story is universal: he had spent his life underestimating both the power and inherent need of one thing: love.
Patch Adam’s miracle came at Halloween. As believers, our miracle came on a hillside outside Jerusalem on a cross, twenty centuries ago– a miracle resulting from supernatural love.
The disciple and eye-witness of Jesus, John, wrote,
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
Have you, due to anxiety, anger, bitterness and the like, forgotten just how much God loves you? Don’t allow Satan to steal the abundant life Jesus died to give you.
In 1973, Glenn Frey & Don Henley, of The Eagles, wrote their hit-song, Desperado, which concludes with this warning,
“You better let somebody love you…..before it’s too late.”
That’s good advice.
Embrace the love of Jesus – His heart-pounding, filled with infinitely compassionate love – for you.
Soli Deo Gloria, Nick