On fullness

Here lately, I have been intrigued by the contrast of emptiness and fullness.  Both words are extremes in my mind, and to me, their comparison is more like a war.  Now, please note that this post is not about the fullness, or sometimes known as "spiritual obesity," of the stagnant Christian.  My words are aimed at pondering over the fullness of Christ and its effects on us, not the fullness of us and its effects on our fruit.  I know I am starting this post out strong, without a witty and inevitably hilarious (and humble) introduction.  But this topic is just too full of things to cover.

Okay, I did have room for one small pun...

Back to seriousness.  God has really been showing me the difference between what it means to be full and, less desirably, what it means to be empty.  It's a feeling thing, really.  And when I say that God has been showing me this lately, I now look back and realize that He has spent pretty much the past five years of my life showing me this.  I can specifically look back on certain circumstances in my life where I felt so empty.  But, praise to the Lord Almighty, I can also look back and feel the fullness of God; I can feel it when I just think about it.  It's like my blood thickens as my memory churns.  It's like my pores are seeping the mist of the Spirit, because it cannot be contained in such a small enclosure as one tiny human body.

I like those memories. Why do we forget!

When I think about the fullness of God, I cannot help but get caught up over the word fullness itself.  The word fullness means that there are no pieces missing, there are no hollow spaces, no air bubbles, no elbow room.  The fullness of God means that there is absolutely no way anything else can appropriately fit anywhere in God's place.  There is no room in that inn.

There is a quote by Blaise Pascal that I have heard many times, and it is always a favorite of mine:

“There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”

I have worked with children at the YMCA for the past three years, so when I read this quote, I always think about those little plastic boxes with holes of different shapes--circles, rectangles, stars, ovals, etc.--and the accompanying plastic shapes that you put inside of the box.  Only the correct shape will fit in the hole.  You cannot put a rectangle in a circular hole.

You cannot put a best friend in the vacuum of your heart where only God fits.  You cannot put a boyfriend/girlfriend in the vacuum of your heart where only God fits.  You cannot put a church activity in the vacuum of your heart where only God fits.  You cannot put a sport in the vacuum of your heart where only God fits.  You can only put God where God fits.

I have never done well with transition periods.  Coming back home it has taken me until probably today to become adjusted to being in Shelby for the summer.  It has taken many prayers and many smacks on the head (metaphorically speaking) for me to become content with my current stage of life.  I keep hearing God say,

Your days can never be empty when they are full of Me.

That is one of the most comforting things God has ever told me, and I don't even deserve to hear it.  Prayers for emptiness concerning the world and the desires it brings and prayers for dependency and humility before God the Father are a necessity.  Even the best thing God has given me on this earth is not enough, it's never enough.  Even the people I love the most can never bring me satisfaction. When I try to shove them into the God-shaped hole in my heart, they don't fit; they only leave me empty.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. -Colossians 2:9-10

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. -Ephesians 3:19

"If I find in myself desires nothing in this world can satisfy, I can only conclude that I was not made for here." -C.S. Lewis

Let His fullness fill your emptiness.

LMB