Fill up
I am writing today, not to continue my story, to delve fully in to my deconstruction process will take time I just do not have today. I will definitely be continuing next week.
However, today I just wanted to pop in with a gentle reminder to all of you out there who follow Jesus.
To be overflowing we have to fill up with something.
Let me reiterate that one more time, to overflow we have to fill up first.
What does this mean, you may ask? I am asking myself the same question. But I felt the Holy Spirit whisper something to me this morning. “I will redeem the time.” No time spent with him is lost. No time spent with Him is pointless. Time spent worshiping, reading your word, focusing on the One who made you, it is HOW we fill up with Him and become an overflow to others. I fill up by taking myself out of my circumstances and worshiping. I read my Bible. I pray- but often times I just need to shut my mind off and worship. And then listen for his voice. He is there. He is always there. But I have to invite him in if I want to hear Him. I have to say, “Hey Lord, I am here for YOU.” Maybe your process is different! And that’s okay. We are unique personalities with unique ways we connect to the Father.
But let’s suffice it to say I am not always filling up on the good stuff. I spend some days lamenting more than I praise. I wonder how that affects those around me…..
I am never one for ignoring emotions, but nor can I let my emotions excuse me from walking out who I know I am called to be. It seems so simple (and it is!) but as I look around I am just reminded of how we, as Christ followers, in our frail human state, so often get of course. We fill up on religion and then we pour out self-righteousness and condemnation. We fill up on the world and we pour out hypocrisy. We fill up on our complaints and anxieties and we pour out vitriol that no one in their right mind wants to be around. Sometimes we get it all out, and we just feel empty.
As I texted two dear sisters in Christ this morning, we have to keep the first thing the first thing. Fill up on Him! Once we are called, once we discover who Jesus is, then the only thing that makes sense is to live like it! 2 Peter, chapter 1 tells us.
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
He has given us everything we need. EVERYTHING we need. But if we don’t spend time with him, if we don’t fill up with Him, do we still have it all?
Galatians 5:1 tells us that it is for freedom we are set free. Freedom from what? The slavery and yoke to sin. The very thing that God knows will lead us into death and decay- not only in our spirits but in our minds and bodies as well. It is no wonder or coincidence that treating our bodies unkindly by over consuming drugs or alcohol lead to death and decay of our physical bodies. Is it any wonder then that in the same way over consuming the world and its ideals and relative “truths” will lead our spirits into death and decay. In essence, we are FREE to go to Jesus and live through his righteousness and his strength all day everyday!
FILL UP with his goodness!
Not with religion, not with trying in your own strength to play by the Christian “rules,” not with your own self-help or quick fix like wine or a shopping spree- these things are fleeting. But the Lord, he is from everlasting to everlasting. Being with Him will help you overflow with love, goodness, kindness, gentleness, humility- all those things that embody our ideals- because at our hearts, at our very core we were made for them because we are in His image. Being with Him will restore our perfect peace- that has nothing to do with our circumstances but the state of our soul.
Thanks for being here. Praying for anyone who might read this to go fill up on Him!
