Do you ever feel empty? I don’t mean are you hungry or is your mind blank? I’m asking if you ever wonder what you do in life is enough? No one lives a perfect life, though certain friend’s Facebook pages often advertise they live in perpetual perfectness.
Don’t buy into their staged posts.
No one lives a life which is entirely perfect. Those flawlessly edited Facebook photos do not reveal truth.
Everyone rises in the morning with bad breath and bed hair. Uncooperative family, exhaustive work situations, unavoidable chores and mundane obligations during the day have a tendency to ignite battles with those unfortunate enough to be around us. Evening brings more family, more work, more chores and obligations which so often cause chaotic overload.
Then though your day is done, sleep leads to rising tomorrow with your smelly breath and messy hair and repeating your flaw-filled yesterday all over again.
Life can be a downer – if we choose to let it! Through the blessings of our Father, He gave us a friend to have constantly by our side. A friend who encourages us to remain uplifted during times we may feel empty inside. God knew our lives would not always be filled with “sugar and spice and everything nice.” So His provides us with a merciful gift.
This gift is the power of the Holy Spirit. By filling us with the Holy Spirit, God enables us to work though life’s unavoidably disruptive, troubling low times. It is the Holy Spirit who gives us that encouraging nudge we need.
Once we accept the Spirit and invite Him to control the course of our daily choices, we immediately start bearing fruit to share with those (now fortunate enough) who are around us.
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Living with the Spirit means we possess all of the blessings listed in Galatians if we choose to accept them as a gift from God.
We can choose to turn those previously uncooperative, exhaustive, unavoidably mundane responsibilities into blessing by allowing the Holy Spirit to control the attitude we posses in every situation. Instead of feeling bitter or resentful in unavoidable circumstances, what if we:
- find love and joy in making the family breakfast instead of choosing to find it a morning burden.
- offer forbearance and kindness to the the new employee instead of choosing to loose patience as they learn new skills.
- demonstrate goodness and faithfulness to your spouse instead of choosing to perpetuate a conflict.
- display gentleness and self-control during yet another social mishap instead of choosing to loose your temper over another’s lack of knowledge.
Though the Spirit offers us these attractive gifts to make our lives beautifully satisfying, please know as humans we still have the capacity to commit sin. That is the way we were created – we have the choice between right and wrong, God never intended to force us to obey Him. However, as Christians we belong to Christ. We have authority over evil and need not give in to temptation.
Galatians 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Just as Christ set us free from eternal damnation by being crucified for all our sin, Christians set ourselves free using the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome giving in to temptation of sin. All our weaknesses were nailed to the Cross with Jesus. His crucifixion gives us power to control our actions. We simply need to remember the devil has no hold on us any longer and invite the Holy Spirit to help us.
It is your decision to invite the Holy Spirit into your life and allow Him to fill you. By submitting to His loving truth you will never feel empty again.
Lift Him Up 