Are we willing to be filled or remain empty?

 Rubbermaid containers, Tupperware, recycled take out containers, old shoe boxes, reusable Amazon boxes . . . all containers ready for use/reuse. What about you and me? Are we available for God to fill us up again and again for His use? Can God store in us His love and grace and allow it to be shared with others . . . and do it again and again? To put it another way, are we reusable?

Are we willing to be filled or remain empty?

    But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:7-10)

 

Much like the reusable containers we keep around the house for that leftover dinner, work lunch, or even a box to mail a care packaged to our college students, we as jars of clay are to allow God to fill us daily to deliver His words to others. It might be a morsel of hope, a bit of joy, a bite or two of grace, or even a box filled with instructions how to meet with Jesus for the first time. 

You see if we remain useful, and do not allow ourselves to become crushed by or own despair and challenges, we can be useful to God and others. Yet if we remain focused on our own struggles and do not allow God to rule in our lives, we are useless to God and people! As we empty ourselves of our own issues, we become available to God to fill!

Are we willing to be filled or remain empty?