Column: Living on full, not empty

Nothing is more unsettling than driving in the middle of nowhere with the gas gauge on “E” and the yellow warning light glowing. It’s a bad feeling. Sadly, many Christians today are spiritually running on empty. They believe the Lord has a high regard for every believer—except them.

Often, that sense of emptiness comes from spending more energy and passion on earthly pursuits than heavenly ones. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, “All the labor of man is for his physical needs, but his soul is not satisfied.” The apostle Paul urged in Colossians 3, “Since you have been raised with Christ, set your heart on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.” And Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

We are skilled at seeking “stuff,” but what we must learn is to seek the things above. Seasons of emptiness can make us feel as if God is far away, but we were not designed to operate on empty. God wants us to live in His fullness. Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:19 “that you may be able to understand with all your fellow believers just how wide, long, deep and high the love of Christ is for you, a love that passes earthly knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Emptiness often comes when Christians live like unbelievers, which Paul described to the Ephesians as “the futility of their thoughts and the emptiness of their souls.” To operate on full, believers must guard what they watch, what they listen to and who they spend time with.

Jesus gave this promise: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” The real question is what we hunger and thirst for—things that lead back to emptiness, or the things above that Christ commanded us to set our minds on? Jeremiah 29:13 offers the key: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

— Ken Staley is pastor of Faith Church of Pleasant Grove (9:30 a.m.) and Harrisville Methodist Church (11 a.m.), both Global Methodist congregations. He can be reached by text at 918-852-9797.