THE PURSUIT OF EMPTINESS

Taking an in-depth look at the creation of man two wonderful things come to mind. One is the fact that says “out of dust was man created” just like a clay toy made by a child. He plays with the sand / clay and moulds a toy baby but the truth is that this toy human at this point is lifeless and cannot perform any function. The second fact is that not until God breathe into man did he become a living being. THAT, my dear friends, is what makes us a man after God’s likeness and in his image. Our body been filled with apart of God which gives us the attributes to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue and dominate. Without this we become like the toy that children make with their sand while they play, “clay man or sand man”.

After King Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel was divided into 2; i.e. Judah (eternal throne of King David) and Israel. After him also the children of Israel began to go after the ways of the people who they had disposed from the land of Canaan. 2Kings 17: 7-23, gives us a rundown of how thee Israelite sinned. How they gradually backslid and completely forgot God. In verse 15, it says “ And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them”. They went after things and ways that do not give life and in doing this they lost themselves in the process. When we take a path that is not of God, the spirit of God which is His breathe in us departs from our lives and we become empty vessels fit only for play like a toy. When you give a toy to a child, he not only plays with it but kicks it around, chews it, tear it if possible, and do all sorts to it. Why? Because that is what a toy is for. The toy can’t complain because it is not meant to.

The Holy Spirit of God in us is what makes us a living being; it fills up the emptiness in us, so that we do not become a toy handed over to the enemy for play. Situations in our lives occur because we have continually dedicated our lives to run after emptiness, things that do not fill up the empty part of our spirit and soul. Our life has been focused on the physical and the world; we strive with our puny effort to empty out the skills, strength, and life of God in us on a daily basis for a lot of unimportant reasons. Some are the pursuit of money, marriage, wealth, power, fame, health, love, even happiness and neglect the most important of all the life that makes us to be in God’s likeness. This life makes us to be like God and so gives us the ability, through the Holy Spirit, to do exploit.

Genesis 1:2 says, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”. A formless void means something that is empty, and it is not only that, it is also dark. That is the way the life of everyone without Christ is. Every life without the presence of God in it is without form or shape, a life on a journey to nowhere. It is empty and without weight and so can easily be blown about by trials of the world. Not only this it is also like a shapeless liquid which will take any shape, when one trial comes it shapes you one way another comes it shapes you in another way because that life is empty and has no substance in it at all.

So let us be careful as we strive, that we do not strive after emptiness. That we don’t empty our lives by the kind of friends we keep, or by the type of life we live. Some even empty themselves as a result of the work they do because this job or business is the excuse for not having time for God, for not praying, for not reading and studying the word of God, even it is an excuse for not having enough time for the family. Anything that will not get you closer to God will take you away from him, and anything that takes you away from God will empty out His breathe in you.

As children of Israel pursued after emptiness, they became empty. They went after other gods, worshipped idols, did wicked things, provoked God to anger and made him jealous by rejecting all his command which he had laid out for them. The relegated God into an area of unimportance and shamed Him. Therefore, God cut short man’s life on earth Gen 6:3. Every empty vessel shall ultimately be cast into the fire and destroyed, or maybe it shall be used as a dustbin. Let us return to our first love and strengthen the part of life which remains in us. Let us pursue life in God, a filling that can enrich not only our spiritual life but also every other area of our life. A life without Christ Jesus as its Lord and personal savior is an empty life so surrender your life to him today so that he can fill you and make you a living being.