“to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:19 NKJV
Reflection: what fuel are you putting into your spiritual tank?
I saw a very funny video the other day where a person with an electric car pulled up to a gas station to fill up. They pulled up to the pump, got the hose ready, but could not figure out where to put the gas. I believe a kind onlooker eventually told them that the car doesn’t take gas. And although that is an extreme story, we also know that even when putting “bad gas” in your car, it will not run right. The gas might even be so bad that the car will not start.
Our physical bodies are no different. Most people know that if you keep eating junk food your body will eventually turn to junk. It will reflect what you fuel it with. It will not run right, and therefore you expose yourself to all sorts of diseases and chronic illnesses. The French lawyer Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote in 1826 ‘Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are’. It is not enough to know about which fuel is good for the body, you actually have to pick it and put that into your body. Some people are a bit delusional thinking they can put junk into their bodies without any negative consequences.
But what about our spiritual bodies?
In our focus verse today, Paul is writing to the Ephesians to be “filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:19b NKJV. As Christians, hopefully we all agree and say “Amen” to that. We want to be filled with the fullness of God. Why else be a Christian? But what does that look like? I have many times heard Christians pray to God, to fill them with His spirit. With His goodness. With patience. With joy. With peace, and so on. But then they spend most of their days staring at Facebook, Instagram, etc, and in the evenings watching Netflix, playing Xbox, and then perhaps looking at an occasional news feed. The Bible is collecting dust somewhere in the house. To expect to be filled with the fullness of God, not spending any time with Him is as ridiculous as that person who pulled up to a gas station with an electric car. You cannot be filled with God if you pull up to the wrong station. And some find a shady station, filling their tank with “bad gas”.
Paul wrote to the Ephesians to fill up on “premium gas”, so to speak. Let’s read “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.” Ephesians 3:8-12 NKJV.
There is much here, so you might have to read that paragraph several times. But notice Paul talking about the “unsearchable riches of Christ”, meaning it is an endless well for us; a living water well that will never run dry, nor will we understand all of it, as long as we are in this world. But Paul goes on, saying “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 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.” Ephesians 3:14-20 NKJV.
So, practically speaking, do an honest check with yourself today, of which “gas stations” you have stopped at. Are you even at the right station? And, if so, are you getting premium gas, spiritually speaking?