Paul prays for the church "that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
But...
What is the fullness of God?
(image from http://www.ignitecampusmin.com)
As a mother, I spend a lot of time filling things up: clean cups and plates, empty hands and bellies, flat balloons and floaties. All kinds of things are waiting to be filled: with food, with love, and with my very breath.
Somehow, though, all these things seemd to get empty again rather quickly.
I can't tell you how many meals I've fixed, sippy cups I've filled, and inflatables I've blown up.What I can tell you is, as soon as I turn around, the kid feels hungry again, the milk is spilled, and the balloon has popped.
Is the fullness of God like this? Is it a temporary thing that we lose and refill over and over?
It certainly feels that way sometimes. How often do we come to God, empty and dry, spilled out and deflated, begging for Him to fill us up again? I think maybe there's a hole somewhere that His fullness keeps leaking out of.
My neighbor has a cool bouncy house that the kids like to play on. We had a cheap one a long time ago, but it popped almost immediately and lost all its air, so it was no longer fun to jump in.But my neighbor has the industrial-grade one, with the electric air pump to keep it filled with air for hours of jumping fun.
(image from http://www.karismagicparties.com)
Do you see the idea? With my cheap inflatable, one hole rendered it useless and in need of repair. But with a real bouncy house, a few little holes make no difference, because of the continuous infilling of air coming from the power source.
I'm sure you get the spiritual application here. We need a continuous infilling of the Holy Spirit to keep us filled with the fullness of God. So where does this come from?
Ephesians 5:18b-21
"Be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,21 submitting to one another in the fear of God."
We stay filled with the fullness of God by (1) giving praise to God, (2) giving thanks for ALL things, and (3) giving to one another.
I was feeling pretty good about this until we got to number three there. Give to one another?! After all, isn't it giving to others that leaves me feeling drained and depleted?
But it's in giving to others that Jesus promises us the most filling experience.
Luke 6:38
"Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
