Running Towards Empty
“Adopt
the attitude that was in Christ Jesus: Though he was in the form of God, he did
not consider being equal with God something to exploit. But he emptied himself
by taking the form of a slave and by becoming like human beings.”
- Philippians 2:5-7a CEB -
The worry of overcharging a device seems like such a first
world problem at times. For someone who has grown up with always changing
technology, I remember it taking me a while to realize that leaving something
plugged in could actually degrade the battery faster. It seems so counter
intuitive that something at full power could actually be getting too much
power.
However, the opposite can be equally scary. Having little or
no power left, especially on something so seemingly critical like our cell
phone, can feel like death to the outside world. But having your phone run out
of power, as socially crippling as it feels, does nothing to harm one’s battery
or the phone itself. The act of emptying and using a phone is exactly what a
phone is designed to do. It is not designed to just hold charge or accumulate
charge beyond what it needs.
This week we call Holy Week because we remember and journey
with Jesus from the joy and celebration of Palm Sunday to the intimacy and
reverences of the Last Supper and finally to the unknown pain and isolation of
the Cross. If we don’t pay attention beyond the two joyous Sundays of Palm
Sunday and Easter, we miss the part of Jesus’ story that makes our whole faith
worthwhile and meaningful. Just paying attention to the happy parts can be lead
to a kind of overcharging. We need the story of the cross to remind us to empty
ourselves and let ourselves be used. Just as Jesus emptied Himself on the cross
to prepare for the transformation of resurrection to come, we too need to let
ourselves be used and emptied in order to be refilled and transformed by God.
God’s power is best utilized by one willing and empty rather than by one that
thinks of themselves as already full and functioning. By letting parts of
ourselves and our egos die with Christ, we can then be made new and transformed
by God’s grace. How are you running towards empty?
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