Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Fulness



For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; Colossians 1:19
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.  Colossians 2:9

“In all our searching, the only thing we’ve found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.”   Carl Sagan

One of the great problems of humanity today is their feeling of emptiness. Man is continually searching for something to fill their emptiness. For some it is drugs or alcohol or other things that alter their reality even if for a little while. For others, it is education and position or fame and recognition. There are many ways in which people try to fill their emptiness.

“The fact that our hearts yearn for something Earth can’t supply is proof that Heaven must be our home.”   C. S. Lewis

That emptiness is there because God has allowed it to be since the fall of man in the garden. It is a place that can only be filled by God Himself. Everything that exists has been created by Him and for Him. Without Him, nothing exists or continues to exist. As long as man tries to fill his emptiness with things of this world, it will always fail. What the world needs is not more stuff and more entertainment, but the only One that can fill the emptiness.

There is no purpose to life outside of God’s purpose. God has determined, before the foundation of the world, that Jesus Christ would embody all fullness. That means that nothing else can fill our emptiness.

And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.  Ephesians 3:19

But, as it always is with God, it means much more than that. It is impossible for us to fully comprehend what it means to be filled with the fullness of God.  God offers and makes available so much more than we can ever imagine.

As we get to know our wonderful Lord Jesus, we are filled more and more with His fullness. Paul reminds us that we have the life of Jesus in us. “. . . Christ in you the hope of glory” Colossians 1:27. If you are neglecting to spend time studying God’s Word and spending time in prayer, you are missing out on the maximum of what God has made available to you.

So many know who Jesus is, or think they know who He is, but they do not know Him. Even many Christians today do not take time to really know their Lord. There is so much more to know than just “knowing” Him as Saviour. He wants to fill us with so much more than that.

As we grow in our knowledge of Him, He fills those places that tried to fill with other things, and then those things lose their grip on us. Why be satisfied with such empty and non-filling things of the world when we can be filled with all that God is and has for us.

Gordon Crook