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Jun 19, 2024 06:00am

Empty or Full?

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I was headed to the fridge for a nice cold glass of sweet tea. It had been a hot day, lots of work outside pulling weeds, putting down mulch, and pushing that wheelbarrow around.

I grabbed a glass – not one of the plastic ones, it tastes way better in an actual glass – put my straw in and filled it to the top with ice.

I open the fridge and there on the top shelf is the tea pitcher. I’m sure you’ve probably got one too. It’s not really used for anything else but the sweet tea. An old Tupperware gem!

I reached in, wrapping my fingers around the handle, my mouth already watering thinking about that first drink, when I discovered something terrible.

I was shocked!

The pitcher was empty! No tea!

Now, I don’t know about you, but that will light a fire in me real quick. Not just the fact that I now have no tea, but that someone put that pitcher in there knowing it was empty!

Why are we keeping the pitcher cold?

Ugh!

I pulled that pitcher out, popped the lid off, ran hot water and soap in it to let it sit before I washed it. All the while, my mind was reeling. It wasn’t that I was just angry, I was disappointed, let down, felt like I had been deceived.

From the outside, everything had looked as it should. But that pitcher was empty. Nothing inside. Zero. Zilch. Completely void.

John 18:12-14
“Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him,
13 And led him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year.
14 Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.”

The Jews.

God’s chosen people. The ones whom He had called out to be His own. The Apple of His eye. The High Priests were of the tribe of Levi, the tribe God had selected to be the ones who would devote themselves to learning His law and leading the people. They would be held to a higher standard because they had the Word of God, they knew the necessary requirements for rituals and sacrifices. They were committed to upholding the Jewish laws and traditions.

From the outside, everything looked as it should. But on the inside, they were as empty as that tea pitcher.

They had God’s Word. Their lives were committed to knowing it, living it and teaching it.

They should have known.

Not just that this was wrong, but most importantly, that Jesus was the Messiah they had been waiting for.

He fulfilled the scriptures. Everything He said and did had been prophesied by the very prophets these High Priests studied about. They knew their words but they disregarded them.

They were focused on one thing only – themselves. And that meant they had to get rid of Jesus. They would stop at nothing to keep their position, power and “righteousness”.

Isaiah the prophet said “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:“

These were His own people and they knew Him not.

On the outside, we can all look religious. We can say the right things, do the church things, checking off all the boxes, but what’s on the inside?

Are we as empty as that tea pitcher?

Or are we filled with the Holy Spirit, the Comforter Jesus sent to us upon salvation?

Paul urges us in 2 Corinthians to examine ourselves. The Psalmist similarly encourages us to pray to the Father and ask Him to examine our hearts.

Do you know Jesus? Not just a head knowledge, but a heart knowledge. Are you filled by Him or do you sit cold and empty?

Call out to Him today. It’s never too late.

If you want to know more about becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ, go to follow.lifeword.org. And join me on Tuesday nights for FOLLOW:Conversations at 7 pm at Facebook.com/lifeword.