BBD 03.19.18 An Empty Life (Classic)

#1 · March 19, 2018, 10:24 am

Quote from Forum Archives on March 19, 2018, 10:24 am
Posted by: burningbushdevo <burningbushdevo@...>

Classic from 2011

Burning Bush Devotional

19 March 2018

An Empty Life

Then Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing.” - 1 Samuel 12:20-21 NKJV.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. - Ephesians 5:6 NKJV.

Would you pay £1,500 (about $2,300) for a painting empty of any paint, as in a blank canvas? Would you pay even more for a sculpture that was just an empty space, because the sculpture was not really there? The Arts Council England, also paid the artist Agnieszka Kurant for a movie shot with an empty camera, as in no film in it. At least one British official (Matt Hancock) seemed to think that paying for nothing was wrong, and he called the so-called empty art, “a staggering waste.” I'm no art critic, but it could be that he is right! (The Sun, London - December 2, 2010)

Even more of a waste than empty art, is an empty life. Samuel warned the people, after God gave them a king, that to now turn away from God would only lead to “empty things.” There are many today seeking to lead you away from God. They are able to say all the right things, but they are only saying, “empty words.” The apostle Paul warns that we can be cheated “...through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of the men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ (Colossians 2:8).” What can we be cheated out of? Life. Real life. We can be cheated out of the abundant life (John 10:10b) that Jesus came to give us.

What are you giving yourself to? What are you giving your life to? Is your goal in life to have as much money as you can possibly accumulate? Is your goal to have the most toys, the best car, the best truck, the biggest house, the most land? Or, have you given up on even those kinds of goals, and instead you are just doing whatever drugs you can lay your hands on? Maybe you are just drinking your way into oblivion? All of that stuff, the material things, the drugs, the alcohol; all of it, brings only more emptiness into your life.

How can you end the pain of an empty life? Not by adding more emptiness, not by compounding the problem. The apostle Paul directs us to the One who can give us fulfillment, instead of emptiness. Here's what God says through Paul in Colossians, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving (Colossians 2:6-7).” Only in Jesus can we find true meaning in life. Walk in Him, build your life on Jesus Christ, because: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:9-10).”

Instead of having an empty, meaningless, and unfulfilled life; you can be “complete” by living your life for the Lord Jesus. I guess the only question is this: What are you waiting for? Give your life, give your heart, your whole heart to Jesus. He's knocking at the door, and He wants to come in (Revelation 3:20).

Copyright © 2010 - 2018. Ed Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of those first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites are celebrating 20 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more than 12,000 subscribers across the world.

You can leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on theburningbush.net website in the top right hand corner of all of the pages.

Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the Devotionals at the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of the home page. Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.

Please continue to pray for healing for Michelle Abetz, Thelma Lewis, Brandy, Damon D. & wife, Beverly (Jeanie’s sister), Brent Baker, Gary and Glenna Kirk, Amy Carroll, Caleb Freeman, Chris Ramber and his brother, Toby, E.L. Fowler, Reno Plemons, Misty, Hillary B., Buck & Barbara W., Wendy Lu and Jeanie.

Please pray for an end to the racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace and love. Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me. 03.18.18 I accepted the call to be the pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Elk City, Oklahoma. Please pray for me and for this church.).

You can contact Ed Wrather at theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with endorsements at www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our devotions, we read devotionals.

You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo devotional group by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is only being sent now in html format) by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

--
To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org

Posted by: burningbushdevo <burningbushdevo@...>

Classic from 2011

Burning Bush Devotional

19 March 2018

An Empty Life

Then Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing.” - 1 Samuel 12:20-21 NKJV.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. - Ephesians 5:6 NKJV.

Would you pay £1,500 (about $2,300) for a painting empty of any paint, as in a blank canvas? Would you pay even more for a sculpture that was just an empty space, because the sculpture was not really there? The Arts Council England, also paid the artist Agnieszka Kurant for a movie shot with an empty camera, as in no film in it. At least one British official (Matt Hancock) seemed to think that paying for nothing was wrong, and he called the so-called empty art, “a staggering waste.” I'm no art critic, but it could be that he is right! (The Sun, London - December 2, 2010)

Even more of a waste than empty art, is an empty life. Samuel warned the people, after God gave them a king, that to now turn away from God would only lead to “empty things.” There are many today seeking to lead you away from God. They are able to say all the right things, but they are only saying, “empty words.” The apostle Paul warns that we can be cheated “...through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of the men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ (Colossians 2:8).” What can we be cheated out of? Life. Real life. We can be cheated out of the abundant life (John 10:10b) that Jesus came to give us.

What are you giving yourself to? What are you giving your life to? Is your goal in life to have as much money as you can possibly accumulate? Is your goal to have the most toys, the best car, the best truck, the biggest house, the most land? Or, have you given up on even those kinds of goals, and instead you are just doing whatever drugs you can lay your hands on? Maybe you are just drinking your way into oblivion? All of that stuff, the material things, the drugs, the alcohol; all of it, brings only more emptiness into your life.

How can you end the pain of an empty life? Not by adding more emptiness, not by compounding the problem. The apostle Paul directs us to the One who can give us fulfillment, instead of emptiness. Here's what God says through Paul in Colossians, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving (Colossians 2:6-7).” Only in Jesus can we find true meaning in life. Walk in Him, build your life on Jesus Christ, because: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:9-10).”

Instead of having an empty, meaningless, and unfulfilled life; you can be “complete” by living your life for the Lord Jesus. I guess the only question is this: What are you waiting for? Give your life, give your heart, your whole heart to Jesus. He's knocking at the door, and He wants to come in (Revelation 3:20).

Copyright © 2010 - 2018. Ed Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of those first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites are celebrating 20 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more than 12,000 subscribers across the world.

You can leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on theburningbush.net website in the top right hand corner of all of the pages.

Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the Devotionals at the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of the home page. Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.

Please continue to pray for healing for Michelle Abetz, Thelma Lewis, Brandy, Damon D. & wife, Beverly (Jeanie’s sister), Brent Baker, Gary and Glenna Kirk, Amy Carroll, Caleb Freeman, Chris Ramber and his brother, Toby, E.L. Fowler, Reno Plemons, Misty, Hillary B., Buck & Barbara W., Wendy Lu and Jeanie.

Please pray for an end to the racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace and love. Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me. 03.18.18 I accepted the call to be the pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Elk City, Oklahoma. Please pray for me and for this church.).

You can contact Ed Wrather at theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our devotions, we read devotionals.

You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo devotional group by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is only being sent now in html format) by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

--
To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org