Articles
Will You Be Filled?
When I was a kid and we had a birthday party, my mom would sometimes let us buy a
package of party balloons. The balloons were different shapes when you blew them up: round,
pear shaped, long ovals, and long zigzags. The balloons really weren't that interesting in the
package. It wasn't until we took them out and blew them up that we got to see all the shapes and
colors. Balloons don’t serve their intended purpose until they are filled with air.
Balloons are a strange mix because they can be strong and fragile at the same time. We
all know that sometimes balloons pop. We are told that we also are fragile but can be strong.
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will
be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but
not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;” (2 Cor. 4:7-9
NAS). A clay jar seems strong until it’s dropped. If we try to depend on our own strength we will
fail. Sin, the world, the Devil, and all the cares and burdens of this life, will destroy us without
God.
The Bible tells us that as Christians we must be filled with something. That something
makes us strong and without it, we can’t really serve the purpose God intended. “Do you not
know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys
the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are”
(1 Cor. 3:16-17 NAS).
When you pick up a balloon and squeeze it, the air inside that gives the balloon its shape
and makes it strong, pushes back, making it able to resist so it cannot be easily crushed. Unless
we are filling ourselves with God’s word, we will be crushed by the burdens of this world.
Without the love of God filling us and without His Spirit dwelling in us, we will never live a full
life. We are the temple of God and His Spirit fills us and makes us strong and complete. ~B
Tolbert
