Filled to be Emptied

(This blog post is dedicated to my two-year-old granddaughter, Bella, without whom it seems that I would only have half as much to write about. 😇)

Bella spent the night with us on Friday and was taking a bath before bedtime.  I sat by the tub and she played in the water.  One thing she really enjoyed doing was pouring water from a container into my cupped hands. She'd pour it out until her container was empty as the water filled my hands and overflowed back into the tub.  When there was no more to pour, she'd take her little hands and push my hands apart so that I'd have to let that last puddle of water in my palms splash out.  Then she'd fill her container and continue the game, time after time until the water got cold and it was time to dry off and get into some clean pajamas.

What a picture of what God wants to do with us!  He fills us up to overflowing and that overflow becomes a blessing to those around us, but when we are inactive, just holding on to the blessing in our hands, he wants us to let it go so He can fill us up again.

 It's an old analogy, but I think it bears repeating, that the Dead Sea is "dead" because it is constantly being filled, but has no outlet streams.  All that it receives concentrates there, causing it to be almost ten times saltier than the sea - a condition that means that it cannot support plant or animal life.  I've also read that the Dead Sea is receding at an alarming rate.  Not only is it devoid of life, but it's also diminishing itself.

I had an opportunity tonight to see "church" demonstrated outside the four walls of a gathering place with a name on the door.  A group of Christians met together to minister to a sweet faith-filled lady and her family as they stand against a diagnosis that may be "fact" but it's not God's truth.  Those who were in the home were definitely pouring out life to her and to each other. 

When we don't pour out to others, we become spiritually dead and as a result, we begin to recede - to grow smaller and powerless.  Faith, gifts of the spirit, love, compassion - all these grow by being exercised.  Inaction brings stagnation.  We were never meant to fill up and then put a lid on what we have received. 

John 7:38 says, " He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water."  Flow means there is movement.  We are to do something with what we are given. We are to be conduits of blessing, love, and grace.

Matthew 10:8 says "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give."

I know that I sometimes tend to get wrapped up in my own little life and I forget that I have a responsibility to do more than just seek God to meet the needs in my own family.  My life here should be less about "my life" and more about His kingdom. I'm asking God to show me where and how to flow so that I can freely give as I have received. I know that if I empty myself, He will be faithful to fill me up and give me a fresh blessing to share once again.