Why Am I An Empty Glass

In my first blog of the series, I ask that you consider yourself with sober judgment and decide if you are the pitcher or the glass in the “pouring into others relationship.” So what happens if you’re the glass? What does that mean? When I first came up with the title of today’s blog at the beginning of the series, I didn’t have this thought in mind. It just came to me yesterday when I was running over some ideas for this post.

If you’re still an empty glass, then you’ve most likely been drinking other people’s Living Water rather than your own. You may listen to pastors, teachers, and others and find out what God has spoken to them through His Word, but you aren’t seeking God on your own. Jesus is the Living Water. If you aren’t pursing an active relationship with Him through His Word, prayer, and quiet time with Him, then you are running on empty. It makes sense that you feel the need for others to continually fill you. Remember, it may make sense, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay to continue on being the fillee and never the filler.

With busy lives and hectic schedules, it is tempting to operate in the premise that Sunday Jesus is enough. He’s not. You need Jesus to be an active part of your every day life. You need to see what the scriptures are saying to you specifically, how they guide you and speak into your life and circumstance. Bible studies and worship services are a wonderful addition, but if you are not meeting with Jesus daily, you will never have what you need to get through this life. Only Jesus fills.

Well meaning family and friends can sprinkle some of what they have on you, but soon enough you will be yearning again for a fresh drink. They can pour and pour, so much that you become a drain on them, and still you will expect more. It’s unfair to those who love you.

Here is part of a conversation that Jesus had with the woman at the well as recorded in John 4:

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Notice in verse 14 where Jesus says that what He gives “will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” What He gives is continual. Beyond salvation, He offers Living Water day after day that will satisfy the deepest need. We think that people and things will somehow fill or complete us. If they do at all it’s only momentary, but soon enough, we are longing for more. What I’ve discovered to be the most transformation truth of my life is that Jesus fills. Jesus completes. Jesus is enough.

So stop sipping on the Living Water of others. Pursue the Living Water on your own. Drink and be filled and never thirst again.

As a first step, go back and read the entire conversation between Jesus and this Samaritan woman when you get a chance. It’s packed with many truths that we, as women, can identify with.

Blessings to you, and as always, I value your feedback. Please feel free to share with a friend.

Lisa

 

2 thoughts on “Why Am I An Empty Glass

  1. Thank you Lisa ! I think I’m a pitcher and it’s because I do read my Bible almost every day. I can’t be a good Christian, showing people the love of God, without my own time with God. My personality is a “fixer” but I can’t fix everything. But I can be a good listener to my friends when they need a friend. I thank God everyday for my friends and for whatever help I can give them. Thank you for these blogs; they really make me think!

    1. Thanks for your feedback, Roxanne. I’ve been a pitcher for as long as I can remember – even when I had nothing to pour. It’s just natural for me. The balance I’ve had to learn is when my pouring is actually a hindrance to what God wants to do in a life. Not always easy to step back and force the people I love to direct their thirst toward God.

      Hope all is well with you and yours.

      Lisa

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