Long before Ball jars were found to be useful for candle sticks, vases, and other “Pinteresty” things, they were used for storing and canning food. I have several Ball jars in my kitchen cabinet, all sitting empty and unused. A while back, a friend gave us two jars filled with freshly canned pickles. We decided to leave them in the pantry for a few weeks in order for the flavor to soak into the freshly canned cucumbers. Recently we opened one of the jars and what a treat!
A jar is only useful when it is filled with something others can enjoy. It serves no purpose when it is empty and sitting on a shelf; it is useless.
Recently, I’ve had several young women tell me how overwhelmed they are with life. Their schedules are filled to the brim with commitments outside the home: sports schedules, church schedules, exercise routines, children’s MDO, preschool or elementary school schedules. Many are trying to hold down full or part time jobs while attempting to keep the laundry done, the family fed, and their homes clean.
Due to the busyness of their lives, these young women are spiritually “empty jars” just sitting on a shelf. There’s no time for Bible reading, no time for prayer, no time for teaching their children Biblical truths, and no time for just sitting quietly ( in their spirit) before the Lord; they are empty and spiritually useless to the Father.
I believe the solution to our being over-committed comes in setting personal and family priorities. A decision to limit commitments has to be made in order to bring peace and calm into our homes and lives. Limiting these will allow us time to be “filled up” and useful to the Father once again. We must be willing to say “no” to children, family or friends, as to extracurricular activities outside the home. We must limit or even eliminate time on the i-phone, face book, Pinterest and texting, limit church activities, and set a household budget that is not dependent upon the wife’s having to work.
We must stop and ask ourselves the question, is this activity or commitment going to make us and our family more useful to Christ, or is it going to rob us and our family of time being “filled up” with Him?
Your relationship with Christ will never be any greater than your relationship with His Word. We are only useful to the Father when we are “filled up” with Him. We must not let our over committed lives cause us to be empty useless jars!
Father, how I desire to be a full jar; one that is useful to You! I am often just as guilty as these young women in letting my busy over committed schedule rob me of quality time in Your Word. Help me to take an honest look at my life and my commitments, being willing to set myself and my family apart that we might be all You desire for us to be. In the quiet of each morning, fill me with more of You!
“Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His, and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness. Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” 2 Timothy 2:19-21
“Meanwhile, God’s firm foundation is as firm as ever, these sentences engraved on the stones: GOD KNOWS WHO BELONGS TO HIM. SPURN EVIL, ALL YOU WHO NAME GOD AS GOD. In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing” (2 Timothy 2:19-2, The Message)
“Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10a).
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit” (Psalm 51:10-12).