Empty Enough?
Nobody wants to be empty, right? Empty means poor, sad, lonely. Empty means cold, old, dead. We don’t want to be associated with those things. We don’t want to be empty. We try to fix it. But we mess up. We don’t become full-filled on our own. What to do then?
“God gives His gifts where He finds the vessel empty enough to receive them” writes C. S. Lewis in Williams and the Arthuriad. We are not called to be empty. But we are called to be empty enough.
God wants to fill us with his blessings. God gives His gifts where He finds the vessel empty enough to receive them. If there is no place for God, He can’t come in. If there is no place for gifts, He doesn’t give them.
Are you empty enough? Is there space for God in your life? Do you want to make room for God? Or are you so full of yourself that there is no room left for anyone else?
“He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease”, said John the Baptist (John 3:30, NRSV,*). We do need to decrease in order to be able to create space for Christ to increase his presence in our lives. But we are not left alone even in this empting process. God is already calling your name, planting a deep desire in you to become empty enough, hungry enough for Him.
Dear God,
If I am empty, fill me with your grace.
If I am too full, empty me for your grace
If I am empty enough, bless me with your grace.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
Q4U: Are you empty enough? How do you get empty enough?
Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you make room for Christ in you!
* [As you might have noticed, I enjoy reading the Bible in different translations and love comparing them. I have started linking the Bible verses to Biblegateway.com so you can easily read (and compare) them in the different versions I’ve used while preparing each post.]
Image courtesy of Cindy Ford, design Mari-Anna Stålnacke. This post is refurbished from 2010. Linking up today with Unite the Bloggersphere , Three Word Wednesday and #tellhisstory.
10 thoughts on “Empty Enough?”
Coming to you from Three Word Wednesday, today! Beautiful post! Similar to my own today actually… pretty amazing how God confirms His Word to us through others! I love it! Thank you so much for sharing! (oh and I love the sunflower picture-they are my favorite flower!!) 🙂
Thank you, Satin! Yes, it is wonderful to see God moving around the world. Abundant blessings to you!
I visited you today and was blessed. In the emptiness He can fill us full of Himself. How great is that? I wrote something about that not too long ago. Have not published it but might, but here it is for your eyes only:
EMPTY HANDS
He says, “No one is to appear before Me empty-handed.”
I ponder this. I don’t understand and I tell Him so.
“That sounds like you’re begging.”
I don’t know a begging God.
He says, “No one is to appear before Me empty-handed.”
Then I see it.
I know the truth.
What do I have that He has not given?
He says, “No one is to appear before Me empty-handed.”
Empty hands call Him a liar.
Empty hands say He is no provider.
Come to the altar full handed.
Come to praise Him for what He’s given.
Come in thankfulness of heart.
He says, “No one is to appear before Me empty-handed.”
I consider this and understand it all.
WITHOUT HIM I AM EMPTY HANDED.
What do you have you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 1 Corinthians 4:7b
No one is to appear before Me empty-handed. Exodus 23:15b
Nice to meet you, Chris! And thank you for your kind words! And WOW, what a great poem! Thank you for sharing! Without God we really are empty handed! But – praise God – with Him we have everything we need. May God continue to bless you richly!
Mari-Anna. thank you for responding back to what I shared. You can find more of my writing at http://www.chrismalkemes.com I am an oldster among the bloggers but you can see my “story” on the about page. This is where I write from…the yielded heart.
Thanks for sharing your blog address. I will make time to visit! It’s always a blessing to meet another Christian blogger! God bless you!
So true and so beautiful, Mari-Anna. Love the verse, the quote, the prayer and all of it. I think God often empties us of ourselves through troubles so He can fill us with His love and grace. Thank you.
Thanks so much, Trudy. Yes, God is at work in our lives even when we can’t feel it. Wait for good because God is good! BLESSINGS!
I think this may be one of my favorites of yours, Mari-Anna. Or it just happened to be a message I really needed today. So beautiful. Always sorry for how long it may take me to get by, but thank you for your faithfulness in sharing with TWW. Blessings.
Glad to hear this blessed you, Beth! Thanks for visiting (And there’s no such thing as being late for leaving comments.) and hosting. Bountiful blessings to you and yours!