EMPTYING JARS
The more jars we empty and give to Him to fill, the more He fills. Remember the story of the woman who gave her last food to Elisha, thinking she and her son would die of starvation? Elisha told her to get all the empty jars she could gather and set them before the Lord who promised to fill all of them (2 Kings 4:4-7). She poured what little oil she had left into one of the jars and it filled it completely. She kept pouring and every jar she had was filled. When the last was filled the oil stopped flowing. I don’t know how many jars she had, but no matter how many there were she probably wished there were more.
The application seems obvious: the more empty jars we give to God the more He fills. If we don’t give Him many, then not many are filled. If we give Him a lot He fills them all. I know He’s filled all the empty spaces in my life which I’ve given Him. But He doesn’t fill the ones I keep full of self, sin or just busy activities. I’m still emptying ‘self’ out of areas of life He doesn’t completely control. It’s not that He doesn’t want to occupy all of me 100% – He does. It’s me that keeps getting in the way. When will I learn to not try to meet my own needs or provide for my own necessities, but to let Him always and only fill and use all of me.
I need His help to recognize areas that need emptying of self and filling with Him. I often need to go back and refill old areas of life which I keep taking back and trying to fill myself. Whatever need, whatever desire, whatever dream or situation I have, He can fill it much better than I can. So why do I keep trying? It looks like this business of emptying one’s self is a lifelong process!
Galatians 2:20 have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Mark 8:34-35 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.
How are you doing with the process of emptying yourself so Jesus can fill you? Why does something so simple often seem so hard to do? Where do you find the most difficulty? What can you do to allow Him to fill up all your empty spaces?
by Rev. Dr. Jerry Schmoyer, Christian Training Organization