FILLED or FULL?

Live a life filled with love for others...
-Ephesians 5:2

When I was a kid, I remember one act of service that my Dad took me to do for an elderly lady he knew. We went to her house and cut wood and stacked it inside her home for her. I remember her house because it stunk and was filled with cats.
I also remember her thankfulness and the feeling I got from being able to help her out.
It was a simple act of service but it made an impression on me for the rest of my life.
Simple acts done in love are the most meaningful.
When I think of my Dad these kinds of things are what come to mind.

You know a lot of people, as I do too, how many of them stand out as those who live a life of love? I mean when you think about them, that is how you would sum up their life.

How many of us would have these words carved into stone to forever sum up our lives:

"Here lies _______________who lived a life filled with love for others"

What comes to your mind when you think of a life filled with love for other people?
Does the very thought exhaust you?

Does a schedule packed to the brim with endless activities, countless meetings, a host of volunteer positions, full offering plates and empty bank accounts, endless ringing phones, long talks after church or before, always moving people with your truck, being asked first but not really asked but expected. Does a life filled with love mean always saying YES, come to your mind when you think of a "life filled with love"?

I think the words of Mother Teresa best capture the reality and heart of the above verse:
"It's not what you do, but how much love you put into it that matters."

The truth about love has to do more about the quality than the quantity alone. I know many people, myself included, that can jam pack a life full of activities, even ministry, and still not live a life FILLED with love.

We can be full and not be filled.
Our life can be busy but not satisfied.
One can know a lot of people and still be lonely.
You can do a lot and not get a lot done.
I can do a lot with little real love.

Jesus was not pushed by the immediate demands of life, people or emotional or even physical pressure. He did what He was supposed to do, when He was supposed to do it and how He wanted to do it. He had control of His life, even when it seemed it was out of control. The Father's will was the guiding compass of His day and life. He lived each day with purpose and His purpose was to be able to love.

Much of what the world (religious or secular) demands of you in the end doesn't produce a "Filled" life but a full life and that will leave you burned out and empty.

I love Jesus' words in Matthew 11:28-30:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened,
and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]
Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good--not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.

I want to live a love filled life, which to me means being able to make sandwiches with love or preaching or combing hair, stacking wood or simply saying yes.