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By Pastor
Phillip Howell
web posted
August 26,
2015
RELIGION
– I am
full! We had
baptisms last
night at Lick
Fork; I had the
joy of baptizing
my son Cason and
two other great
young people as
well. As special
as that was, one
of my favorite
parts of the
evening was my
wife’s chocolate
no bake oatmeal
cookies! I love
those things.
The texture, the
flavor,
everything about
them is great!
The only problem
is that I ate so
many that I did
not really leave
room for hot
dogs or all the
other goodies
that other
people brought.
I am not
complaining,
especially since
I brought home
lots of
leftovers to eat
today as
yesterday’s
belly full of
cookies
dissipated. But
note that
because I was
full, there was
no room for
anything else.
I write this not
to encourage
over indulgence
with oatmeal
cookies, but to
teach a pretty
important
principal in the
Christian life.
We as people
crave fullness.
We don’t like to
be in hunger and
in want. This is
part of God’s
design for us.
But due to our
sin we look for
fullness in
wrong ways. We
drink too much,
we eat too much,
we talk too
much, we spend
too much, we
surf the web too
much. The list
goes on.
We are empty
apart from being
full of Christ.
And because of
our sinful
nature, we look
to be full on
wrong things.
I do have some
good news to
empty people
hurting
themselves
binging on junk
comes from a
great little
book called “A
Gospel Primer
for Christians.
Milton Vincent
writes that
“Consequently,
the key to
mortifying
fleshly lusts is
to eliminate the
emptiness within
me and replace
it with
fullness; and I
accomplish this
by feasting on
the gospel.
Indeed, it is in
the gospel that
I experience a
God who
glorifies
Himself by
filling me with
His fullness.
He is the One,
Paul says, “who
fills all in
all.”(Eph
1:22-23) He is
the One who
“fill[s] all
things” with the
gifts He gives.
(Eph 4:7-10) And
He lavishes
gospel blessings
upon me with the
goal that I “be
filled up to all
the fullness of
God.”(Eph 3:14-5
&19) This is
the God of the
gospel, a God
who is satisfied
with nothing
less than my
experience of
fullness in Him!
The first
command God
spoke in the
Garden was, “eat
freely.” (Gen
2:16) And with
similar
insistence He
says to me now,
“be filled.”
(Eph 5:18)
What happens to
my appetites for
sin when I am
filled with the
fullness of God
in Christ? Jesus
provides this
answer: “He who
continually
comes to Me will
never hunger or
thirst again.”
(John 6:35)
Indeed, as I
perpetually
feast on Christ
and all of His
blessings found
in the gospel, I
find that my
hunger for sin
diminishes and
the lies of lust
simply lose
their appeal.
Hence, to the
degree that I am
full, I am free.
Eyes do not
rove, nor do
fleshly lusts
rule, when the
heart is fat
with the love of
Jesus!”
So, today are
you full of
Christ? A good
test is that is
if any lusts or
longings persist
you, you can be
sure that you
are not full.
But you can be
assured all you
have to do is
ask of Christ
the bread of
life and He will
gladly fill you
up!
Wondering if
there are
anymore
chocolate
oatmeal cookies
left at house
right now?
Pastor Phillip
For all
past articles please visit our Archives
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2015
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