As another Thanksgiving comes and goes, many of us experienced a full weekend – family, friends, football…and extra pieces of pumpkin pie! As sports fans, we continue to have our days filled with intriguing games vying for our attention in almost every sport. We just had college football rivalry games on Saturday with Conference Championship week upon us, along with full slates of NFL matchups, the World Cup, college basketball tournaments, as well as the NBA and NHL’s regular season. The word “full” summarizes this time of year in life and sports. The holiday season leads to our schedules being full of activities, traditions, and events. Our stomachs are full from eating Christmas cookies and drinking eggnog…our online carts are full on Amazon…and our sports calendar is full of games every night of the week and all weekend long. But beyond what our schedule is full of, what about our lives, minds, and hearts? Are we full of stress, worry, and fear or are we full of joy and peace? Are we full of ourselves or full of humility? Is our mind full of negative thoughts or hopeful ones? Are we full of anger and bitterness or full of compassion and grace? Are our lives full of deep relationships, meaningful fellowship, and sacrifice to others or full of self-seeking pleasures, surface-level acquaintances, and worldly pursuits? Ultimately, we have to consider whether or not our lives are full of God. Are we filling ourselves with the things of God, and more importantly, of God Himself? Are we living Spirit-filled lives or are we too busy filling ourselves with everything else the world offers? When we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, He comes into our hearts and lives and fills our souls. But all too often, we forget that this fullness of love, power, and goodness is within us. Colossians 2:9-10 (TLB) tells us, “For in Christ there is all of God in a human body; so you have everything when you have Christ, and you are filled with God through your union with Christ. He is the highest Ruler, with authority over every other power.” In Ephesians 3:16-19 (AMP), the apostle Paul tells the people how he prays for them to fully experience God’s power and love, and we can pray this for ourselves and others: “May He grant you out of the riches of His glory, to be strengthened and spiritually energized with power through His Spirit in your inner self, , so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith. "And may you, having been rooted and grounded in love, be fully capable of comprehending with all the saints (God’s people) the width and length and height and depth of His love ; and to know the love of Christ which far surpasses knowledge , that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God .” While proceeding into our full holiday season and sports calendar, let’s recognize God’s presence and fully experience His unending love. The fullness of God is found in Jesus, and when Jesus lives within us, we have access to the fullness of God. Today, let’s embrace that reality so our lives will be full of meaning, purpose, joy, love, hope, and peace. I’m Bryce Johnson and you can UNPACK that! PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to earth to die on the cross on my behalf. I acknowledge that Jesus is my Savior who resides in me, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Please help me understand the depth of Your love to the best of my ability and empower me to live a Spirit-filled life. I desire to be full of You instead of being full of myself. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR PACKS:
1. What would you say your life is full of? 2. In what ways have you experienced the presence and the fullness of God?
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