Reason #619
Today was not my day. I finished up my lunch with a... fender bender. That's right, a little accident that was thankfully not my fault. Fortunately, it wasn't bad and no one was hurt. It did make for a shorter afternoon as I was an extra hour late getting back to work from my lunch break. Anyhow, not my favorite part of the day.
I've decided I should probably just stay at home after the past few days I've had. Saturday afternoon, right after we made it to our bible study retreat location, I nearly lost my eyesight due to a rogue frisbee. Go figure I would be the one to catch a frisbee with my eye. Anyway, it didn't turn black, thank goodness, and my blurry, double vision only last for a few minutes. My eye ended up being a little tender and sore, but the thing that was hurt the most was my pride. Oh well, not the first time to be publically (and embarrassingly) injured.
Well, despite all of the unexpected accidents over the past few days, I wanted to share a bit about the retreat. It's funny the things that people take away from a time like that. You can bet that the one thing a few will most definitely remember was the sight of me being pegged in the eye with a frisbee. I suppose that is pretty memorable. Some people left with new friendships. Some people will have fun memories of the games that were played or the kind of sketchy and slightly creepy cabins we stayed in. But the one thing I will remember from this weekend was how God was so gracious to encourage me. How He, once again, opened my eyes to things that are so simple yet so pivotal to the life of believers. How He spoke to my heart so powerfully each time we talked about what our lives should look like as a Christ follower. And I'll always remember the glove analogy that was shared.
Gloves were designed for a specific purpose, to cover hands. They were designed to be filled with 5 fingers and a palm. If you pick up a glove and try to use it to grab things without putting your hand inside of the glove first, you can't do it. It's impossible. Gloves weren't made to be filled with feet, elbows, ears, or knees. Granted, you maybe able to fit those body parts inside of a glove somehow, it just doesn't make sense to do so. And so a glove is most useful when it is filled with a hand. Only then is the glove actually serving its true purpose.
As Christ followers, we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Not just half way filled, or kind of filled, be completely filled. He should inhabit our entire being, leaving no room for anything else. Because when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, that's when we are most useful and effective. When we are completely filled with the Holy Spirit, that's when we are most powerful. Yet so many of us walk around trying to fill our spaces with things that don't fit and are not intended to. With things that don't make sense. With feet and elbows and all sorts of useless things, figuratively speaking, that weren't meant to be there. Because it's just easier that way, or so we think. We can get that instant, yet temporary, gratification by just throwing things in our lives to fill the space. That way, we don't have to deal with deeper issues. We don't have to be challenged or stretched or feel uncomfortable, and we believe that we can fool those around us, and possibly even the Lord, if we just keep filling our lives with these things rather than with the very thing that is meant to be filling us. But what if you saw someone wearing a glove on their ear? You'd think they were weird and that they were completely misinformed about the proper use of gloves, right? Yet what do you think when you see a believer, a follower of Christ, being filled with things of this world? Is that strange to you? Do you even notice it? Do you think there is anything wrong with that? Could that ever be you? Challenging thought, I know.
The good news of it all is that you just have to ask. Ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit and then let Him fill you. Ask Him to inhabit all the spaces in your life so that nothing else can fit there. Ask Him to fill you up to the brim so that you can pour into the lives of others. Because when you keep your hand in the glove, there's no room for anything else. And when you allow yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you'll find that there's no room for all of that junk to be a part of your life anymore.
No one said it would be easy. Truth is, it won't. It won't be easy for you, for me, or for any human who has graced the face of this earth. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. It doesn't give us an excuse to behave any other way. We are commanded to be filled with the spirit, not to be filled with lust, greed, hate, envy, slander, jealousy, contempt, anger, anxiety or any other kind of sin. We are to be filled with good things from above so that the things of this earth have no place in our lives. Sure, we'll get it wrong. Sure, we're going to fail. But God is so generous to give us what we need, to give us more of Himself, to make sure we are filled so that we can be more like Christ. After all, isn't that what you signed up for? To be like Christ? Well that's definitely not going to be easy, flattering, popular, or widely accepted, but that's okay. He didn't come because of those things, He came to live a life that was glorifying to the Lord, and if we're going to do the same thing, we may need to get our gloves out and take a peek inside. It's never to late to take out what's there and start filling it with what should be. Might not be a whole lot of fun at the moment, but it will most definitely be worth it in the end.
#619 - Because He will fill us completely and wholly so that we don't have to be filled with the temporary things of this world.
"Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit..." - Ephesians 5:17-18
I've decided I should probably just stay at home after the past few days I've had. Saturday afternoon, right after we made it to our bible study retreat location, I nearly lost my eyesight due to a rogue frisbee. Go figure I would be the one to catch a frisbee with my eye. Anyway, it didn't turn black, thank goodness, and my blurry, double vision only last for a few minutes. My eye ended up being a little tender and sore, but the thing that was hurt the most was my pride. Oh well, not the first time to be publically (and embarrassingly) injured.
Well, despite all of the unexpected accidents over the past few days, I wanted to share a bit about the retreat. It's funny the things that people take away from a time like that. You can bet that the one thing a few will most definitely remember was the sight of me being pegged in the eye with a frisbee. I suppose that is pretty memorable. Some people left with new friendships. Some people will have fun memories of the games that were played or the kind of sketchy and slightly creepy cabins we stayed in. But the one thing I will remember from this weekend was how God was so gracious to encourage me. How He, once again, opened my eyes to things that are so simple yet so pivotal to the life of believers. How He spoke to my heart so powerfully each time we talked about what our lives should look like as a Christ follower. And I'll always remember the glove analogy that was shared.
Gloves were designed for a specific purpose, to cover hands. They were designed to be filled with 5 fingers and a palm. If you pick up a glove and try to use it to grab things without putting your hand inside of the glove first, you can't do it. It's impossible. Gloves weren't made to be filled with feet, elbows, ears, or knees. Granted, you maybe able to fit those body parts inside of a glove somehow, it just doesn't make sense to do so. And so a glove is most useful when it is filled with a hand. Only then is the glove actually serving its true purpose.
As Christ followers, we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Not just half way filled, or kind of filled, be completely filled. He should inhabit our entire being, leaving no room for anything else. Because when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, that's when we are most useful and effective. When we are completely filled with the Holy Spirit, that's when we are most powerful. Yet so many of us walk around trying to fill our spaces with things that don't fit and are not intended to. With things that don't make sense. With feet and elbows and all sorts of useless things, figuratively speaking, that weren't meant to be there. Because it's just easier that way, or so we think. We can get that instant, yet temporary, gratification by just throwing things in our lives to fill the space. That way, we don't have to deal with deeper issues. We don't have to be challenged or stretched or feel uncomfortable, and we believe that we can fool those around us, and possibly even the Lord, if we just keep filling our lives with these things rather than with the very thing that is meant to be filling us. But what if you saw someone wearing a glove on their ear? You'd think they were weird and that they were completely misinformed about the proper use of gloves, right? Yet what do you think when you see a believer, a follower of Christ, being filled with things of this world? Is that strange to you? Do you even notice it? Do you think there is anything wrong with that? Could that ever be you? Challenging thought, I know.
The good news of it all is that you just have to ask. Ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit and then let Him fill you. Ask Him to inhabit all the spaces in your life so that nothing else can fit there. Ask Him to fill you up to the brim so that you can pour into the lives of others. Because when you keep your hand in the glove, there's no room for anything else. And when you allow yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you'll find that there's no room for all of that junk to be a part of your life anymore.
No one said it would be easy. Truth is, it won't. It won't be easy for you, for me, or for any human who has graced the face of this earth. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. It doesn't give us an excuse to behave any other way. We are commanded to be filled with the spirit, not to be filled with lust, greed, hate, envy, slander, jealousy, contempt, anger, anxiety or any other kind of sin. We are to be filled with good things from above so that the things of this earth have no place in our lives. Sure, we'll get it wrong. Sure, we're going to fail. But God is so generous to give us what we need, to give us more of Himself, to make sure we are filled so that we can be more like Christ. After all, isn't that what you signed up for? To be like Christ? Well that's definitely not going to be easy, flattering, popular, or widely accepted, but that's okay. He didn't come because of those things, He came to live a life that was glorifying to the Lord, and if we're going to do the same thing, we may need to get our gloves out and take a peek inside. It's never to late to take out what's there and start filling it with what should be. Might not be a whole lot of fun at the moment, but it will most definitely be worth it in the end.
#619 - Because He will fill us completely and wholly so that we don't have to be filled with the temporary things of this world.
"Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit..." - Ephesians 5:17-18
Comments
Post a Comment