"If you're already full, Christ cannot fill you."
We are so quick to fill our lives with the wrong stuff.
When we fill our lives with anger, we don't have room for Jesus.
When we fill our lives with resentment toward one another, we don't have room for Jesus.
When we fill our lives with bitterness toward one another or life, we don't have room for Jesus.
When we fill our lives with self pity, we have no room for Jesus.
When we fill our lives with worry, we have no room for Jesus.
When we fill our lives with want or jealousy, we have no room for Jesus.
When we fill our lives with hopelessness or despair, we have no room for Jesus.
When we fill our lives with any other emotion other than joy and desire for Christ, we fill ourselves up to the brim and there's no room for Jesus.
But if we pour those meaningless things out, and open our hearts, minds, and lives to the Lord, He can fill us.
He replaces our anger, our resentment, our bitterness, our self pity, our worry, our want, our jealousy, our hopelessness, and our despair with His peace, His contentment, His joy.
If you are already full, spill it out. Get rid of it. Those emotions of hurt and anger take up so much room in our lives, and leave little, if any room for our Savior.
Pour yourself out. Let Christ fill you. He will bring so much joy and peace into your heart when you let go of those grudges, those feelings of hurt, worry, fear, and anxiety, and you will have so much joy you won't be able to contain it.
It's true. Trust me. I've been there. The petty stuff leaves no room for Christ, and no room for love for one another, or hope for the future. It's not worth it!
But I will tell you what is worth it, is giving it all to Christ and allowing Him to fulfill our every need and heal our every ill.
Be satisfied and be made whole. He has filled the hungry with good things (Luke 1:53)- are you hungry for Him? Or for the selfish, sad desires of the world? Listen to this song. Be moved. Empty yourself out so He can fill you up.
Here's a major blessing I want to share with you:
These are the three churches that I've been playing for on Saturday nights. They share a Pastor. They have become like family, they are such blessings to me and I am going to miss all of the congregations when I go back to school- they are Immanuel, St. Paul, and St. Luke. I have been so blessed to share in their ministry!
One of my friends once told me that there are two ways to go to God. With an open hand or with a closed hand. If your hand is closed, you are holding onto something, and it's not open to receiving God's blessings. When your hand is open, you're not holding onto anything, but instead you're letting God fill you. Ok, so it's easier to explain in person and act it out, but you get the idea.
ReplyDelete^I like that. And your explanation makes perfect sense!
ReplyDeleteI like AM's comment too! Great example!
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