Romans 8:1-17
Life at birth is like a glass that is empty. Then we begin to fill the glass of life with many things. The infant begins to learn that life has pain. The pain may come from some food that the infant has been fed. The stomach ache will cause the baby to cry with pain. My oldest brother had a daughter who cried for the first nine or ten months of life because of stomach pains. Her parents both lost so much sleep that they had dark circles around their eyes. For parents, the stumbling first steps of their child brings a sense of joy as the child takes and masters the art of walking upright. These events and experiences begin to fill the glass of life.
The glass of life is filled with activity. We start to play games: hide and seek, and all kinds of board and card games. Have you ever played Rook, sports, baseball, football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, or bowling? In one of my churches we had a morning group that would go bowling. One of the group members threw the ball so slowly you could count the turns of the bowling ball as it went toward the pins. When we are in school, we need to have our brain at work as we study and learn how to write, read and spell. We even learn to use the numbers to add, subtract, divide, multiply and do those hard-to-learn fractions.
We fill the glass of life with work and rest. Many people never find any joy in their work. We spend much of the glass of life in our work. If your work only brings a paycheck to you then your workdays are long and hard. Many of us may have had that experience. If your work brings to you more than a paycheck your workday brings you joy. The product that you are working with may be seeing a house being built. It may be seeing that you are in a healing work both physical and mental. It may be seeing plants grow and produce foods. It may be fixing a car so it will run and be safe to drive. The truth about our work is that whatever it is , that work fills much of the glass of life.
The glass of life demands rest. But how do we spend our rest time? Some of our rest time must be spent sleeping. The body needs good sleep to be able to function well in the daily demands of life. Without this kind of good rest, we will have health issues and will shorten life.
We fill the glass of life with the pleasures of the world. Some people spend hours watching TV every day. Children and youth, and some adults, spend hours on their electronic devices. So many people try to find their pleasure in the use of drugs. Drugs for pleasure fills this glass of life with pain and death. We have people seeking their pleasure in bars and getting stoned trying to escape the problems of life. When our pleasure does not bring us a sense of wellbeing then it brings to our lives a broken wreckage.
We fill our life with cares and concern. We have people that have used their glass of life taking care of members of their family. I knew a lady some years ago that had spent her glass of life taking care of her parents. They lived a long life with her help and care. She never smiled and most of the time she acted as if she hated her daily life and even the people around her. When her parents died, she did not change. She was an unhappy person with a very unhappy life. Then a widower began to talk to her and take her out for dinner. The man had a happy kind of life and a great sense of humor. I eventually performed their wedding. This event in her life changed her from being sad and angry to a person with joy and happiness written on her face. It changed the content of her glass of life. It was what she needed. She needed someone to care for her.
What are we filling the glass of life with that is real? What are we filling the glass of life with that is false? If we don’t let God guide what we fill our glass of life with, much of life is built on the false offerings of our culture. When we accept the Holy Spirit as the guiding force in daily life, we experience the true nature of living. It frees us to be a true member of God’s family. When we accept God’s Holy Spirit the glass of life takes on its true meaning. The Holy Spirit’s power defeats sin for us so we can know that by the power of God we can overcome our troubles.
When the Holy Spirit fills our life and our minds, it gives us a sense of peace even in the sad and hard days of life. As long as we live with our sinful nature filling the glass of life we will live in fear and uncertainty. Paul tells us when the Holy Spirit is living in us, it means that we belong to God’s family. The Holy Spirit make us right with God. In our own sinful nature lived out by it’s dictates, we will die.
The Holy Spirit fills our glass of life with the power of life. By the power of the Holy Spirit we can call God ‘Abba, Father’ for we are God’s heirs. If we are God’s heirs we will share in his glory, but as an heir we also share in God’s suffering from evil and sin of the people he made for himself. Who is filling your glass of life? We have tried to displace the God we meet in Jesus with our human action. The glass of life filled by only human nature is the glass filled with brokenness and death. When we accept the gifts of the Holy Spirit our glass of life will be filled with healing and life.
The Holy Spirit fills our glass of life with this message: “To Canaans fair and happy land, where my possessions lie, I am bound for the promised land, I am bound for the promised land. O who will come and go with me? I am bound for the promised land.”
