This Christmas, as cultural tribalism is on the rise, fellow citizens are bitterly divided, and political parties are constantly at war, where can we turn for help to bridge and heal this great divide?
The Prophet Joseph Smith once said, “While one portion of the human race is judging and condemning the other without mercy, the Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard."(1)
Joseph Smith also stated that the love of God is "unfathomable."(2)
The word unfathomable means "not able to be fathomed or completely understood; incomprehensible." It also means "not able to be measured with a sounding line, or fathomed."
This second definition reminds me of how Samuel Clemens allegedly received his nickname from a Mississippi riverboat captain. “Mark Twain!” was a phrase that Mississippi River boatmen sang out when their boats were in two fathoms of water.(3) The boatmen used sounding lines marked to measure the water depth and weighted with a sounding lead that caused the line to sink to the bottom of the river.
Thus, a body of water would be unfathomable if the sounding line used to measure its depth was too short to reach the bottom.
How might this be applied as an analogy to the love of God?
When I first pondered about this, I imagined myself testing the depth of God's love with a spiritual sounding line. Each time I thought of some reason why God might not love me, the sounding line dropped to that place and extended even farther.
At some point I realized that the sounding line would never hit bottom, even if the line was infinitely long. I could drop the line lower and lower, and lower still, but it would never, ever reach a bottom or a limit to God's love, because God's love is infinite and eternal.
So consider this:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."
(John 3:16-17.)
Part of what God lovingly requires of us is that we learn to love as He does. He has given us His two great commandments—to love God and love our neighbor (Matthew 22:37-39). How are we doing with those two commandments? This Christmas would be an ideal time to measure how deep or shallow our own love is for God and for others.
Our Savior, Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate, has set exacting standards for how deep our love for God and others must go.
I can think of nothing needed more today than men and women who love this much. But how can we learn to love so deeply and so completely?
John the Beloved taught, "We love [God], because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
Whenever I have received and experienced God's love, my desire and my capacity to love God has increased.
I submit that our desire and capacity to love others, including anyone we might think of as an enemy, will likewise increase as we discover how deeply God loves us—and them. Indeed, God's love is what all of his children have most in common.
May we each take time this Christmas season to slow down, be still, and sense how deeply God loves each and every one of us. May we yield our broken hearts to God and let His unfathomable love in.
As we do so, may the miracle of His love heal and unify our weary world, one broken heart at a time!
_________
(1) History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("History of the Church"), 4:595; from “Baptism for the Dead,” an editorial published in Times and Seasons, Apr. 15, 1842, p. 759; Joseph Smith was the editor of the periodical.
(2) Emphasis added. History of the Church, 4:185; from a letter from Joseph Smith and his counselors in the First Presidency to the Saints, Sept. 1840, Nauvoo, Illinois, published in Times and Seasons, Oct. 1840, p. 178.
(3) A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to 6 feet (1.8288 m), used especially for measuring the depth of water. There are two yards (6 feet) in an imperial fathom. Source: Wikipedia.
The Prophet Joseph Smith once said, “While one portion of the human race is judging and condemning the other without mercy, the Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard."(1)
Joseph Smith also stated that the love of God is "unfathomable."(2)
The word unfathomable means "not able to be fathomed or completely understood; incomprehensible." It also means "not able to be measured with a sounding line, or fathomed."
 |
| Modern Sounding Line with Sounding Lead |
Thus, a body of water would be unfathomable if the sounding line used to measure its depth was too short to reach the bottom.
How might this be applied as an analogy to the love of God?
When I first pondered about this, I imagined myself testing the depth of God's love with a spiritual sounding line. Each time I thought of some reason why God might not love me, the sounding line dropped to that place and extended even farther.
At some point I realized that the sounding line would never hit bottom, even if the line was infinitely long. I could drop the line lower and lower, and lower still, but it would never, ever reach a bottom or a limit to God's love, because God's love is infinite and eternal.
So consider this:
- If you think you are unlovable, God's love is deep enough to reach you and goes deeper still.
- If you think you have done something bad or wrong, God's love is deep enough to reach you and goes deeper still.
- If you think others are unlovable or are doing things that are bad or wrong, God's love is deep enough to reach both them and you and goes deeper still.
- If you feel abandoned, hurt, resentful, or in any way aggrieved or deprived, God's love is deep enough to reach you and goes deeper still.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."
(John 3:16-17.)
Part of what God lovingly requires of us is that we learn to love as He does. He has given us His two great commandments—to love God and love our neighbor (Matthew 22:37-39). How are we doing with those two commandments? This Christmas would be an ideal time to measure how deep or shallow our own love is for God and for others.
Our Savior, Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate, has set exacting standards for how deep our love for God and others must go.
- About loving God, He said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" (Matthew 22:37; emphasis added).
- About loving others, He said, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).
I can think of nothing needed more today than men and women who love this much. But how can we learn to love so deeply and so completely?
John the Beloved taught, "We love [God], because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
Whenever I have received and experienced God's love, my desire and my capacity to love God has increased.
I submit that our desire and capacity to love others, including anyone we might think of as an enemy, will likewise increase as we discover how deeply God loves us—and them. Indeed, God's love is what all of his children have most in common.
May we each take time this Christmas season to slow down, be still, and sense how deeply God loves each and every one of us. May we yield our broken hearts to God and let His unfathomable love in.
As we do so, may the miracle of His love heal and unify our weary world, one broken heart at a time!
_________
(1) History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("History of the Church"), 4:595; from “Baptism for the Dead,” an editorial published in Times and Seasons, Apr. 15, 1842, p. 759; Joseph Smith was the editor of the periodical.
(2) Emphasis added. History of the Church, 4:185; from a letter from Joseph Smith and his counselors in the First Presidency to the Saints, Sept. 1840, Nauvoo, Illinois, published in Times and Seasons, Oct. 1840, p. 178.
(3) A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to 6 feet (1.8288 m), used especially for measuring the depth of water. There are two yards (6 feet) in an imperial fathom. Source: Wikipedia.
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