Are you Empty or Full?

“That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Eph 3:19

How frustrating is it when your car dings saying you are on empty. Or your cell phone flashes 5%. Or you want milk on your cereal only to find someone put the gallon back in the fridge with just a few drops left.

I had the privilege to do a wedding of two close friends where the bride was from Montgomery, Alabama. They flew me down to do this special wedding. One night my host offered to treat me to dinner of my choice. I could only think of the famous southern BBQ. They knew and bragged about the best place in town. We lined up in a caravan of of a few cars with my driver leading the way and I was cranking the tunes, Sweet Home Alabama, salivating in anticipation.
When we arrived, the joint was packed. As we were about to be seated, they announced, “We apologize but we are all out of BBQ.” “What?!?!?!”
A famous BBQ joint empty of BBQ....

How many Christians are empty of Jesus?
How many of us are running on Jesus’ fumes instead of being “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God?”
How often do you naturally escort Jesus to our pinky toe by saying I can do this on my own! Or you just forgot about Him.
How often do we get caught in the busy treadmill trap, not being refilled daily and throughout the day?

What does your life look like when you are empty of Jesus?
What does your life look like when you are full of Jesus?
Or do you not even know the difference?
Is your thinking about others different? Is your conversation about others different? How about the inner motivation when you are doing your responsibilities, is this different when you are empty or full of Jesus?

What does your life look like empty of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control?

How about when you are full of the Fruit of the Spirit?

Are the people in your life encouraged by the Fruit of the Spirit or discouraged by the lack of fruit?

What do you need to do to get refilled with Jesus?
Who do you need to hang out with to be refilled?
Where do you need to go to get refilled?

Then daily go, do and be with them.

As I write this, Clayton, the tattooed, half head shaven-half head long haired gentleman, next to me on the plane asked me why I have been so nice to him during this flight. I found out that he was “kind of Lutheran” as a kid. But he has been going to the “smoke lodges” of his Native American roots. He and his fiancé clearly noticed something. He commented how he noticed me helping others, encouraging others, looking out for the interest of others. Then he says to me, “I told my fiancé that we need to go and visit your church.”

As we daily ask our 2019 focus question, have you been developing a spiritual gauge that helps you evaluate if you are empty of Jesus, have a little of Jesus, or are up to full of Jesus?

Am I more like Jesus today than yesterday?

Hopefully, we never need to make a spiritual public announcement like the famous BBQ joint, “I’m all out of Jesus tonight.”

Seeking to be filled with Jesus every day and every moment together,
Pastor Chris