Different Christmas Reflections – #2 – Fullness
Another different perspective on this Christmas season for our thoughts and meditation… Fullness.
I know what came into your mind… and this has nothing to do with Christmas dinner, Turkey, stuffing, or Pumpkin Pie, although we do “stuff” ourselves with the Turkey … after we stuff the Turkey!!
No, this fullness has to do with the coming of Emmanuel… but it does not involve physical food. I want us to look at the fullness that Paul says we are to have in his reference in Ephesians 3:16-21 –
(NKJV) …that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height– to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (emphasis mine)
This fullness is to be filled with all the fullness of God! Emmanuel came, yes, to pay the deadly penalty of sin, but He came for so much more! He came that His own life should fill us to the max. One of the words that Strong’s uses for the word “filled” in verse 19 is, “crammed.” We are to be crammed full. Full of what? We are to be “crammed full” with “all the fullness of God.” What does that mean? The New Living Version puts it this way, “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
Imagine! Your life, my life lived every day, with all the fullness of life and power that could come from the very life of God living in us! This is not triumphalism. Paul certainly was not one who was without trials, persecutions, and even doubts at times. No, not triumphalism, rather a realization of the purpose of God in our lives. This is the way Jesus lived. It is the way He desires us to live.
You ask, “How do I get this fullness?” Paul does not leave us to guess. He says he wants us to be strengthened in our inner person so that Christ will be at home in our lives, and we will be growing in our understanding of His love for us. A love that is so high, and deep, and wide, and long that it is impossible to comprehend it, yet available for us, each day. When we are growing in our comprehension of the love of God through Christ, we will be able to live in that kind of fullness.
But this means, “knowing Christ.” It means cultivating my relationship with Him through regular Bible study, prayer, worship, witness, humility, dependency, and humility. It means that Jesus’ advent was for so much more. Maybe it means that I have not been realizing the full potential of the life of God in me. Maybe I have not been living in the Fullness of all the completeness of God’s character and power in my life each day. Maybe, just maybe there is more to this Christmas story than I had connected with the manger.
And just in case you thought it might be quite impossible for you to live such a life, Paul makes sure that we understand that what God intended for our lives in His Fullness, He is quite capable of accomplishing… so Paul reminds us in verse 21, Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen That is a pretty strong reminder that God is able to accomplish this in your life and in mine if we live in the place of knowledge and intimacy with Him. Do you feel your heart being stirred, and drawn deeper? Me too.
This Christmas season as we remember and celebrate the advent of Emmanuel, God with us, let us remember the prayer of Paul in Ephesians 3, and seek after the greater Fullness that Christmas brings to us.
May the Lord bless you with all His Fullness this Christmas Season and each day of the New Year.