-Empty and Full-

All of life comes down to this week. That’s right, this week we celebrate an event that happened over 2,000 years ago, yet everything rests on this balance. All of the spiritual talk, church jargon, & religious mumbo jumbo is meaningless without this one event: the resurrection of Jesus.

In life & ministry I have witnessed & experienced so many crushing blows that make religious talk EMPTY. Early in ministry one of my youth accidentally ran over & killed her friend. All the church language in the world cannot console families in that kind of tragedy. Another family, with which I worked, was heavily involved in the great Passion Play, yet never had time to actually attend & serve in church. Actually, they had an EMPTY witness but a FULL schedule. It all became meaningless the night their 4 year old was killed in a car accident. They were EMPTY of answers & peace & FULL of grief and pain.

Another family had multiple crises. Their farm was lost in one accident, followed by the diagnosis of their daughter’s leukemia. The last invitation verse of the last night of a revival, that daughter came forward & received Christ into her heart. In one moment she went from an EMPTY, hopeless life to a life FULL of hope & joy. The next day, while traveling to her cancer treatment, she & a brother & sister were tragically killed in a train accident. Their lives became EMPTY of time & opportunity & FULL of eternity in a split second.

I could fill volumes with stories of families & lives that encountered such obstacles & challenges. On the 15 days of the *Cross Walk alone, I saw hundreds that I prayed with, spoke to, or shared with in a service, which came EMPTY handed & broken hearted but left FULL of hope & life.

Again, it’s far more than religious talk & ritual people are interested in that changes life. It’s a real encounter with a living Lord. The simple, historic fact that Jesus of Nazareth lived & was crucified around 36 A.D. means little to a man EMPTY of hope & FULL of despair. What’s truly important is that on that cross Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” It was actually one word that Jesus cried out, “Tetelestai.” It means, even more accurately, “Paid in Full.” (Love to share more with you if interested.) What was paid? The price of our forgiveness & redemption.

While that event is crucial, it would almost be hollow & EMPTY without the event that took place the following Sunday morning. Jesus was placed in a borrowed tomb & when the women came to finish his burial preparation they found the tomb EMPTY. They were FULL of despair until an angel reminded them that it was His plan all along. He FULLY intended to rise again. He had conquered the grave & death. The EMPTY tomb leads to FULL joy.

What a message FULL of promise & hope. When all of our lives & dreams seem so EMPTY, we can find our hearts rise & fill with hope to the point we are truly FULL. I can’t think of a better time to think about spiritual things than this week. All of Christianity & life is wrapped up in the events we celebrate & commemorate this week. The day Jesus laid down His life to pay for our sins & the day He arose to free us from death.

The Apostle Peter, a close friend of Jesus, wrote this challenge: “You call out to God for help and He helps—he's a good Father that way. But don't forget, He's also a responsible Father, and won't let you get by with sloppy living. Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ's sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew He was going to do this for you. It's because of this sacrificed Messiah, Whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.”
1 Peter 1:17-21 The Message

So it all boils down to this, if your life is EMPTY today, you can have a life that is FULL. Not simply full of religious do’s & don’t, but FULL of meaning & hope. If you simply have EMPTY, dead-end religion; why not call out to God to give you a heart FULL of meaning & purpose? Don’t let another moment pass by. If you experience this FULL life, treasure & be thankful this ‘resurrection Sunday’ for all that God has done in the EMPTY tomb.

*Cross Walk- In 1999 I walked across AR carrying a 10’ wooden
Cross. 1000+ people saw & heard the message on the road or in the evening services along the 280+ mile, 15 day trek. Hundreds came to know Christ, recommitted lives & surrendered to missions or service.

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Dave Jackson-Campus Minister djackson@absc.org
Cell: 870-217-9376
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