There are a lot of things that go on in our lives. We are provided for, blessed with, shackled by, and persecuted, and all of that can happen in the span of a day or less. I have had all of these rendered in the span of just an hour or so on certain days. It is not easy navigating all that goes on and I can certainly get lost in all of it as I progress through the hours, days, weeks, months, and years. The thing is that I have to look at what I am putting first. What am I using as my anchor in all of the uncertainty that comes up.
“15Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” — Ephesians 5:15-21 (ESV)
And there it is. There is, well, what I was describing. I have to look to the anchor and Paul says it best here, that anchor is with what I am filled. I should be “filled with the Spirit” and then I will know where I am and how I should act. When I am “filled with the Spirit” I will come from a place of Christ’s example and will love regardless of what I am experiencing at the time. I have to slow down as be deliberate (as I have written in my bible) and verses 15 and 16 indicated above.
And it does not stop there, I have to “be filled with the Spirit” and carry that to others and display it for all to see. I have to show all what is in me and that should be the example of Christ in all that I do.
I admit that I have not always displayed the example of Christ. I have shown the ugly side of the situation I am in and for that I can only ask for forgiveness and work to be fully “filled with the Spirit”. I have to be “filled with the Spirit” and display the Spirit of the LORD in all that I do. I am still working on it, and admit that, after all, I am a sinner and will always be a sinner.
But, I am also a child of God and have been saved by Him and have been given salvation and accepted and therefore have Him in me. I now have to allow Him to not just be in me, but fill me to the top. And not just fill me, but spill out of me so that all others can see and experience the love of the LORD. I am to sing out with that which fills me and that which should be filling me is the LORD.
What are you filled with today? Are you allowing yourself to be filled with all that seems to happen in the world? What if you put all of that aside and allowed yourself to “be filled with the Spirit” and then sang out from the Spirit for all to know the goodness that is the LORD?
Trevor's Thoughts 