Words by our Priest-in-Charge:

What Are You Filled With?

 “I pray that your love will keep on growing more and more, together with true knowledge and perfect judgment, so that you will be able to choose what is best. Then you will be free from all impurity and blame on the Day of Christ. Your lives will be filled with the truly good qualities which only Jesus Christ can produce, for the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:9-11, GNB

Our grandchildren were given a lot of chocolate eggs of all shapes and sizes this Easter. They accrued so many that they’re still enjoying a chocolate ration each day, and probably will for some days to come. All the large eggs were hollow, but the small ones were filled with various sticky contents; white and yellow cream, or caramel, or unspecified fudgy stuff, all very sickly. However children are opinionated about what they like and don’t like, so occasionally, after a first bite into an egg, it was rejected. The reason was clear; the filling wasn’t acceptable, in fact it had completely spoiled the taste of the chocolate on the outside of egg.

So, I was wondering, are we a bit like a chocolate egg with an undesirable filling? Does our inside ‘filling’ live up to the expectations of delight implied by the seemingly desirable outer shell?

The truth is we can succeed in looking good on the outside. But what about when something bad occurs or someone hurts us? This is like the world ‘biting’ into us, and what comes out is what’s inside, our inner filling. The question is: is it a delicious inside, or an unpleasant surprise?

Paul encouraged the first century believers in Philippi to be filled with ‘good qualities’, which can only come from allowing Jesus to work inside by the power of the Holy Spirit. These good qualities are the character of Jesus, and this is a most delightful ‘filling’. Paul also tells those in Colossi to be filled with courage (Colossians 2:2), and later to be filled with thanksgiving (Colossians 2:7). So there are lots of good things to be filled with, but we all need to recognise if these are indeed what fills us.

Today let’s ask Holy Spirit to work on our ‘filling’, so that we’re filled with the character of Jesus, courage and thanksgiving. In this way, even when the world attacks us, what comes out will be delicious and worthy of being called a Christian.

Adapted from Seeds of the Kingdom – a devotional from Ellel Ministries International