What Are You Full Of? (Part 2)
What Are You Full Of? Discovering the Right Stuff for Your Soul
There's a question worth pondering today, one that cuts through the noise of our busy lives and gets straight to the heart of our spiritual condition: What are you full of?
It's actually not a bad thing to be "full of it"—the key is making sure you're full of the right stuff. Think about it. Our lives are containers, constantly being filled with something. The question isn't whether we'll be filled, but what will fill us.
Opening Wide to God's Fullness
The Psalmist records a beautiful promise in Psalm 81:10: "I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide and I will fill it."
What an invitation! God is asking us to open ourselves up to Him, promising that He will fill us if we allow Him to. The challenge is that we live in a world of constant distraction, where our minds are bombarded with information, entertainment, and endless streams of content that leave little room for the things of God.
Seeing God Rightly: Big or Small?
How we view God determines everything about our spiritual lives. A.W. Tozer once observed that what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Every person, from the youngest child to the oldest adult, has an image of God that instantly appears when His name is mentioned. And here's the sobering truth: there's a direct correlation between that image and where we will spend eternity.
We can view God in one of two ways: big or small.
The Big Picture: Isaiah's Vision
The prophet Isaiah gives us one of Scripture's most magnificent glimpses of God's majesty. In Isaiah 6, he describes seeing the Lord "sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple." Heavenly beings called out to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory."
The foundations trembled. The temple filled with smoke. And Isaiah's response? "Woe is me, I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips."
This is a high view of God. When you have a high view of God, your view of yourself naturally lowers—and that's exactly what we need. Isaiah wasn't casually greeting an old buddy; he was undone by the holiness and majesty before him.
The Small Picture: Making God in Our Image
Contrast that with Psalm 50:21, where God confronts the wicked: "These things you have done and I kept silence; you thought that I was just like you."
The error? They were putting God in their own box, thinking of Him as merely human. When God didn't immediately punish their wickedness, they assumed He didn't care. They had shrunk God down to their size.
Our view of God is often too little because we think too little about God. We fill our minds with so much garbage that we have little time to focus on who He really is.
Being Awed by God's Attributes
Let's reclaim some theological ground. God is:
And perhaps most beautifully, consider this: God is gracious.
In Luke 14, Jesus tells a parable about a great dinner. When the invited guests make excuses, the host sends his servant to bring in "the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame." The servant returns with this report: "Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room."
Still there is room.
Despite our failures, our sins, our inadequacies—still there is room. That's grace. That's the God we serve.
Faith That Has Strong Eyes
Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." True faith is complete reliance upon God for everything.
But here's what matters most: faith's focus isn't on the size of your faith but on the object of your faith. You could have great faith in the wrong thing, and it wouldn't help you. But even small faith in the right object—Jesus Christ—changes everything.
As one Puritan pastor, Richard Sibbes, beautifully put it: "Faith has strong eyes."
Faith Sees From Afar
When God called Abram in Genesis 12, He told him to leave his country and relatives and go "to the land which I will show you." The destination wasn't even specified—Abram just knew he was supposed to go. That's faith seeing from afar, trusting God's direction even without all the details.
Faith Sees Through Obstacles
God promised Abram descendants as numerous as the stars. There was just one problem: Sarah was barren. But Abram's faith could see through that obstacle. Eventually, Isaac was born—the son of promise.
Faith Takes the Long View
Joseph, sold into slavery in Egypt, eventually rose to prominence. When he died, he made his family promise something remarkable: take my bones with you when God delivers you from Egypt. Joseph had faith that God would fulfill His promises, even if it took generations. And 430 years later, Moses carried Joseph's bones out of Egypt.
That's the long view. That's the strong eye of faith.
Our prayer should echo the apostles in Luke 17:5: "Lord, increase our faith."
The Hope That Changes Everything
Colossians 1:5 speaks of "the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel."
This hope is certain. It's not wishful thinking but confident expectation based on the finished work of Jesus Christ. This is why believers can face funerals with bittersweet emotions—bitter because we miss those we love, but sweet because we know where they are.
This hope helps make sense of senseless things. It reminds us there's more than this life. It motivates our daily living and sustains us through trials.
What fills you controls you. So the question returns: What are you full of?
May we be mindful—full of God. May we be faithful—full of faith. May we be hopeful—full of hope.
And here's the best news: death loses. The grave has no final victory. Because of Christ's resurrection, we can live filled with hope, joy, and peace.
Open your mouth wide. God promises to fill it with exactly what you need.
In Christ,
There's a question worth pondering today, one that cuts through the noise of our busy lives and gets straight to the heart of our spiritual condition: What are you full of?
It's actually not a bad thing to be "full of it"—the key is making sure you're full of the right stuff. Think about it. Our lives are containers, constantly being filled with something. The question isn't whether we'll be filled, but what will fill us.
Opening Wide to God's Fullness
The Psalmist records a beautiful promise in Psalm 81:10: "I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide and I will fill it."
What an invitation! God is asking us to open ourselves up to Him, promising that He will fill us if we allow Him to. The challenge is that we live in a world of constant distraction, where our minds are bombarded with information, entertainment, and endless streams of content that leave little room for the things of God.
Seeing God Rightly: Big or Small?
How we view God determines everything about our spiritual lives. A.W. Tozer once observed that what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Every person, from the youngest child to the oldest adult, has an image of God that instantly appears when His name is mentioned. And here's the sobering truth: there's a direct correlation between that image and where we will spend eternity.
We can view God in one of two ways: big or small.
The Big Picture: Isaiah's Vision
The prophet Isaiah gives us one of Scripture's most magnificent glimpses of God's majesty. In Isaiah 6, he describes seeing the Lord "sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple." Heavenly beings called out to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory."
The foundations trembled. The temple filled with smoke. And Isaiah's response? "Woe is me, I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips."
This is a high view of God. When you have a high view of God, your view of yourself naturally lowers—and that's exactly what we need. Isaiah wasn't casually greeting an old buddy; he was undone by the holiness and majesty before him.
The Small Picture: Making God in Our Image
Contrast that with Psalm 50:21, where God confronts the wicked: "These things you have done and I kept silence; you thought that I was just like you."
The error? They were putting God in their own box, thinking of Him as merely human. When God didn't immediately punish their wickedness, they assumed He didn't care. They had shrunk God down to their size.
Our view of God is often too little because we think too little about God. We fill our minds with so much garbage that we have little time to focus on who He really is.
Being Awed by God's Attributes
Let's reclaim some theological ground. God is:
- Omnipotent (all-powerful)
- Omniscient (all-knowing)
- Omnipresent (everywhere)
- Immutable (unchanging)
And perhaps most beautifully, consider this: God is gracious.
In Luke 14, Jesus tells a parable about a great dinner. When the invited guests make excuses, the host sends his servant to bring in "the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame." The servant returns with this report: "Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room."
Still there is room.
Despite our failures, our sins, our inadequacies—still there is room. That's grace. That's the God we serve.
Faith That Has Strong Eyes
Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." True faith is complete reliance upon God for everything.
But here's what matters most: faith's focus isn't on the size of your faith but on the object of your faith. You could have great faith in the wrong thing, and it wouldn't help you. But even small faith in the right object—Jesus Christ—changes everything.
As one Puritan pastor, Richard Sibbes, beautifully put it: "Faith has strong eyes."
Faith Sees From Afar
When God called Abram in Genesis 12, He told him to leave his country and relatives and go "to the land which I will show you." The destination wasn't even specified—Abram just knew he was supposed to go. That's faith seeing from afar, trusting God's direction even without all the details.
Faith Sees Through Obstacles
God promised Abram descendants as numerous as the stars. There was just one problem: Sarah was barren. But Abram's faith could see through that obstacle. Eventually, Isaac was born—the son of promise.
Faith Takes the Long View
Joseph, sold into slavery in Egypt, eventually rose to prominence. When he died, he made his family promise something remarkable: take my bones with you when God delivers you from Egypt. Joseph had faith that God would fulfill His promises, even if it took generations. And 430 years later, Moses carried Joseph's bones out of Egypt.
That's the long view. That's the strong eye of faith.
Our prayer should echo the apostles in Luke 17:5: "Lord, increase our faith."
The Hope That Changes Everything
Colossians 1:5 speaks of "the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel."
This hope is certain. It's not wishful thinking but confident expectation based on the finished work of Jesus Christ. This is why believers can face funerals with bittersweet emotions—bitter because we miss those we love, but sweet because we know where they are.
This hope helps make sense of senseless things. It reminds us there's more than this life. It motivates our daily living and sustains us through trials.
What fills you controls you. So the question returns: What are you full of?
May we be mindful—full of God. May we be faithful—full of faith. May we be hopeful—full of hope.
And here's the best news: death loses. The grave has no final victory. Because of Christ's resurrection, we can live filled with hope, joy, and peace.
Open your mouth wide. God promises to fill it with exactly what you need.
In Christ,
Pastor Kirk Flaa
Posted in Bible, Care, Discipleship, God, Jesus, Scripture, Worship
Posted in God, Word of God, Jesus, Faith, Holy Spirit, Trust, truth, Bible, Scripture, Ephesians, Love, Rightousness, Hope
Posted in God, Word of God, Jesus, Faith, Holy Spirit, Trust, truth, Bible, Scripture, Ephesians, Love, Rightousness, Hope
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