When we look to others for love and acceptance, we often wind up feeling empty and unlovable. But when we allow God to fill us up, it changes the way we live and all of our relationships. In today’s short video, see how God’s love is like a milkshake. You’ll never look at a milkshake the same!
Have you ever felt empty? I know I have.
Usually, that sense of emptiness goes along with some emotional needs that aren't being met. Maybe we feel unlovable or not good enough. Maybe we’re lonely, or just feel like we can't do anything right. Maybe we don't feel like we belong anywhere or to anyone. Maybe we don't feel good about ourselves and we're empty, drained, and just totally depleted of any joy or strength.
Times like this can make us feel like an empty glass; just totally empty, waiting to be filled by something or someone.
Sadly, we look to other people to fill us, to show us that we’re lovable and that we’re accepted. We think that if we perform well enough, we’ll prove that we're adequate and good enough, that we have purpose and that we're smart. We look to all kinds of things to fill our empty glass, but God did not intend for anyone else to fill it but Him. In fact,
God gave us the emotional needs we have.
Not only did He give us physical needs like air, food, water, shelter, but He also gave us emotional needs for love, acceptance, worth, belonging, and security. We all have these basic needs that God has given us, and if He has given us those needs, we can know that He's the One that can fulfill them. Only God can fill us up with the sense of being loved and accepted, the feeling of being valued, and the confidence of being adequate and secure.
As His children, we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit when we receive Christ as our Life and our salvation. We may not know it or we may not feel it, but it's always there because He is always there. God wants to fill us up, kind of like a milkshake in a glass.
He wants to fill us up, and when God fills us up, we know that we are loved and accepted.
He gives us value and He makes us secure in Him. When God pours into us, He fills us up to the brim with love, acceptance, worth, and security. And when that happens, we are free to do life and engage in relationships without always holding up our empty cup saying, “Please fill it. Please fill me. Love me, help me, care for me. Show me that I'm smart.”
When we feel empty, we are constantly wanting to know those things and we look to others to fill us when God already has. Yes, we want to engage with other people; we are called to live in community, and of course we want to enjoy love and value and security with other people in that community. But that's the whipped cream and cherry on top of the milkshake - it’s not sustainable, but God's love is.
God's indwelling Spirit filling us up is sustainable.
He will never go away. It's His perfect gift to us because He said,
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” James 1:17 (NKJV)
And so we get to engage with other people, share love and receive love, and encourage one another as the body of Christ, as He called us to. But we can depend on Him to fill us up with everything we need for the living of life. He told us that He “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3b (NKJV) We have everything we need for living this life. Thank you, Jesus! I'll remember this truth every time I have a milkshake.