Fill me Up with Joy (Make That Unleaded, Please)

Psalm 126:3 The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

Several sweet friends of mine have had babies recently. Anytime someone I know has a baby, it makes me reflect back to the births of my four wonderful blessings. Pregnancy is a surreal experience. It seems one moment you're staring at a stick in joy and disbelief and the next you are absolutely filled with a baby. A baby can rob you of your nutrients, energy and even ability to think long before she's even born. Nevertheless, those days when I was absolutely filled with one of my babies are memories marked with contentment, joy and anticipation.

Today I am finishing Acts 13 by reading Verses 26-52. Paul is still knee-deep in his sermon at the local synagouge. His focus in this part of his sermon is that Jesus is alive. It is because He is living that we can have hope in hopeless moments and joy in joyless hours. Paul wonderfully weaves Old Testament truth with its fulfillment in the living Christ. As he wraps up his sermon, Paul is invited to return the next week (Verses 26-42).

The next week, Paul packs in "almost the whole city". This fills the Jewish leaders with jealousy and they resort to disparaging Paul in an attempt to gain back their own popularity (Verses 43-45). Paul is unfettered by their criticism and turns his attention from the Jews to the Gentiles, who accept his teaching with gladness (Verses 46-48).

As the gospel spreads throughout the region surrounding Pisidian Antioch, the Jewish establishment incites persecution against Paul and Barnabus in order to get them expelled from their region (Verses 49-50). They are successful and Paul and Barnabus depart for Iconium. The chapter closes by recording that the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit (Verses 51-52).

Shannon, with what are you filled-jealousy or joy? Personally, I want to pull my soul up to a tank at God's filling station and nowhere else. How can I best do that?

• Choose What You're Filled With - When I or someone I love is the object of harsh criticism, I must admit my natural reaction is not to be filled with joy. Perhaps the key is that these believers were also filled with the Holy Spirit. By constrast, the Jewish leaders allowed themselves to be filled with jealousy. When I am filled to capacity with Christ, there's no room left for pride, envy and selfishness. Therefore, joy will be my natural inclination regardless of how other's treat me or my loved ones. I will rejoice when someone else is in the spotlight, rather than concerning myself with the false satisfaction derived from power, prominence and position.


• Choose to be Unleaded - When Paul and Barnabus left Pisidian Antioch, they "shook the dust from their feet" (Verse 51). This was their way of communicating that they wouldn't be carrying the weight of criticism and rejection into their next destination. So often, I carry around with me insults, criticisms and the sting of rejection. God wants me to be completely unleaded of those types of weights. So, I have to not only choose forgiveness but to unload my satchel of any baggage I'm carrying around with me. I have to shake the dust of insecurity off my feet before I can walk in joy.

Just as being filled with a baby can zap you of your last ounce of energy, being filled with anything besides Christ can do the same. Today I want to be energized by the joy that comes from throwing off the lead of jealousy and insecurity. Instead I want to be first in line at The Fueling Station this morning. It's always open with no lines and no waiting.