Empty = Full
I have found the secret to bliss as I walk through a hopeless and dark world. It is the ultimate paradox. It sounds crazy but I am 1000 percent sure of the truth of this secret. Lean in close and I’ll tell you.
I am becoming the least important person in my life.
“When I get lost in who God is, I don’t have the time or more importantly, the desire to even consider myself.”
I no longer obsess over myself or my purpose. I don’t live my life trying not to sin. In fact, I gave up on trying not to sin. To take it a step further, I rarely think about sin one way or the other. I think about God. I look at His world and His Word and this girl is blown away…everyday. When I get lost in who God is, I don’t have the time or more importantly, the desire to even consider myself.
Where did I find this secret to bliss? In His Word.
The boldness of God to put Luke 14 in scripture and make no apology for it.
Listen:
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:25-26
It doesn’t say we won’t be good disciples, it says we cannot be His disciples. I used to hate that portion of scripture. It appeared ruthless and mean to me. I’m so glad God didn’t worry about His reputation when He had the truth written down in His Word. He threw it down and left it up to us to soak in His Presence (by faith) until we see it in all its beauty.
How can hating our own life be bliss? It makes no sense to the natural mind but to the renewed mind it is the only way.
“We changed from the natural state of being God-conscious to the very unnatural state of being completely self-conscious.”
A momentous shift happened in the very center of Adam and Eve when they ate the fruit. As a result, the entire human race went from how we were created to be to how we all are now. We changed from the natural state of being God-conscious to the very unnatural state of being completely self-conscious.
Until we see the great worth of God and forget about ourselves in the light of His glory, we will constantly worry about ourselves, our reputation, our children, people’s approval, and the list could go on and on.
When we count the cost, fling everything and everyone away and say “yes” to God, a whole new world opens to us. The reason most will never live in bliss is because we have to give it all up (by faith), not knowing exactly what is on the other side.
Jesus, as a man, had to do exactly what He told us to do.
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
John 6:38
Because Jesus chose to do the will of God and not what made sense to others, His mother and brothers thought He was out of His mind, and the religious leaders said he was demon-possessed. (see Mark 3:21-22)
“When we obey God, we are doing what’s best for everyone.”
Jesus told the truth when He said we need to count the cost. I often say, “When we obey God, we are doing what’s best for everyone.” What if Jesus had listened to His own mother and brothers? What if He had needed the approval of the religious power brokers? They (along with the rest of us) would have been damned for eternity.
If we are not willing to turn our backs on those we love most for the sake of the One who loves us all perfectly, we will never follow Him.
My family thought I had lost my mind when following Jesus started to cost me. You see, I had cheated on my taxes as a business owner, done things my husband could have left me over, told a lot of little white lies, and when I came to the place of truly desiring to walk in His power, He threw down
another verse that wrecked my life:
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.
Psalm 66:18
I thought, “What if my husband leaves me?”
I felt Him say, “What if he does, will you still follow?”
I thought, “What if I go to jail? I have three children under six years old.”
I felt Him say, “Your own house is a jail because you are living a lie.”
I came to this conclusion; they needed the presence of God flowing through my life more than they needed me.
Praise God for the perfection of His Word. I’m so glad for the line in the sand He draws and says, “You have to choose to cross over.” He will never force us.
“None of us will truly know who He [God] is or enjoy His power and presence unless we are willing to give up everything”
Just as Abraham took Isaac up that mountain to sacrifice him at God’s Word, none of us will truly know who He is or enjoy His power and presence unless we are willing to give up everything…even our own lives. We will never be full until we are completely empty.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself….
Philippians 2:5-7a
Jesus lived a life of no anxiety, complete confidence and total fullness. How?
He was the least important person in His own life.
Because He emptied Himself, He could both enjoy life to the full and fulfill the reason He came.
“Until a vessel is emptied, it can never be filled”
Jesus promised rivers of Living Water (The Holy Spirit) flowing through every believer. Why don’t we see this truth lived out more in His people?
Rivers cannot flow through a stopped up vessel. Until a vessel is emptied, it can never be filled.
Empty = Full
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10
