Have you ever felt like something is missing? Maybe you’ve felt like you need some vegetables after too many days of graduation parties. Have you felt like you needed some time with friends after working or schooling for too long without a break? Maybe you just need more sleep. There are many times in my life where I have needed to make room for something that was lacking.
In the readings for this weekend, Ephesians 3:14-21, we hear God acknowledging the reality that we are lacking. In this world, we will yearn to fill in the gaps that we feel. Sometimes, they are as simple as rearranging the schedule, but other times it is deeper and more confusing.
Sometimes, we feel unloved or unimportant. Sometimes, we feel discouraged or incompetent. These feelings of lacking can be difficult to fill. People turn to all sorts of things to try to fill in the gap. Some turn to volunteering or service while others turn to alcohol or drugs. We often look for the quicker, easier answer that only covers the hole, but never fills it in. The problem with covering a hole is that we have made a trap that will capture us when we least expect it.
In Ephesians, God speaks through the author, Paul, and tells us that God is big enough, powerful enough and loving enough to be what fills in whatever is missing. God doesn’t just cover our hurts and emptiness; He fills it in and is the solution to our troubles. Our feelings of inadequacy or being unloved are filled because in Him we can do all things and are loved more than we could ever comprehend.
In God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are made whole. Our hurts are healed, our broken cracks filled and healed in full, forever. There is no earthly answer than can make us whole for more than a short while, but our God makes us whole, permanently.
This reality is important to remember because the devil will work overtime to cause us doubt. There is nothing to doubt for it rests on God and His promises and not our skill or contributions. It is an intrinsic reality of our identity in God, not measured by external means. Any feelings of brokenness that persist are feelings contrary to truth and can, therefore, be understood as lies from the father of all lies.
God’s love is high, wide, deep and long. God’s love blesses us in ways that are immeasurable and which we never thought to imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Do not let the Devil or your mind overshadow your God who declares you to be whole, perfect and healed to be a blessing.
In Christ,
Erik Gauss
