Filled up

It was the day my baby turned seven months old. The day it reached 26 degrees. The day the verdict came from my son’s psychologist, officially labeling him “Intellectually Disabled” because his IQ measured below 1-2%.   The day the door caught the back of my foot, ripping it apart.

The day the Pastor I call Husband came home to find his wife had melted into a weepy mess on the porch.

The world sometimes spins itself into chaos instructing us to become self-reliant. It suggests that we hold the answers to all of life’s questions, and that we are weak if we desire something greater than ourselves. So many of us miss out on the depths God has for us because we’re content to float along the surface.  We unsuccessfully fill empty voids, engage in meaningless activities, and develop superficial relationships, all in an attempt to cure our discontentment ourselves. Yet, we always come out disappointed because we’ve believed the lie that we hold the solution to all of our problems. The truth is that God is the solution, and He waits patiently for us to discover Him.The desire to be filled

As we thirst and hunger for His ways, heart and kingdom, something truly amazing happens. It’s called blessing.

Blessing occurs when God’s favor and protection pour over our lives, saturating our famished souls with His goodness. A river of peace flows over us, reviving the arid places of our souls which cry out for more. His joy seeps into our hearts which have been longing for a heavenly touch.

The act of pursuing Christ molds us into His likeness.

When a longing is born to live for Christ fully, then legalistic behavior is abandoned because obligation becomes desire.

The rituals and law-abiding tendencies that potentially govern our relationship with Christ diminish, and a craving for His ways manifests. This, in turn, produces a thirst for righteousness, and when we hunger for righteousness, the Bible promises we will be filled.

Filled with Christ

The Psalmist understood what is was to have an appetite that only God can satisfy. “As the deer pants for streams of water, so I long for you O God” (Psalm 42:1).

• Do you have a hunger pang that you desperately want to satisfy?
• Do you search and seek nutrition, yet feel unsatisfied at each attempt?
• Do your priorities lie in satisfying the “now” rather than investing in the future?
• Do you find yourself feeling just as empty as you felt six months ago?

The paradoxes of Christianity seem ridiculous to those who don’t see with spiritual eyes, but the truths are necessary in order to become filled with Christ.

• To be strong, you must first become weak.
• To be rich, you must first become poor.
• To be filled, you must first empty yourself.

You want to be filled. The question is, with what will you be filled?

Q: What do you do when you feel empty?