Maybe it’s because we have just celebrated Thanksgiving, but lately I have been meditating on the word “fullness.” In reality, I think the focus of my meditation is a growing desire to be filled with God. Life is full of things that drain us of God’s fullness, and it’s important that we identify these “drains” and manage them.
In addition, there is also the pouring out to which we are called as part of giving away our lives. Whether because of the drains of life, or in giving our lives away, the result is the same: We need to take time to be filled.
I have spent time once again in my favorite passages in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. He says the fullness I find myself longing for is directly connected to my ability to grasp the love of God.
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:17-19, NIV).
Paul describes the fullness of Christ in relation to the Body coming into unity and maturity (see Eph. 4); and then he describes the fullness we seek as being filled with the Holy Spirit (see Eph. 5).
Will you join me during this holiday season and take time to be filled with the love of God? It’s hard to fill a moving vessel! Will you stop long enough to connect with others and grow in community, and will you receive the fullness of Christ?
As we read the book of Acts each day in 2011, as our movement’s president is leading us, will you also ask the Lord to continually fill you with the Holy Spirit? I pray that we will empty ourselves regularly and take time to be filled with all the fullness of God.
By: Tammy Dunahoo, general supervisor
