Being Full

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

BEING FULL

Acts 13:49-52

49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. 51 So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

NIV

It is sad that some people not only reject the truth but also become vindictive by outwardly opposing the truth and inciting others to their cause against Jesus. Paul and Barnabas were expelled, told to leave the region. The people did not want to hear anymore; they were content to live in the darkness of their minds. There is a good possibility that they were inspired by the evil one, who is always opposed to God. It may be like that song by Bob Dylan, "You gotta serve somebody, you're either gonna serve the Lord or serve the devil, but you gotta serve somebody". However, our lesson is not about persecution or expulsion from the region, though that does play into the truth we should ponder. Luke, in his account of the Acts of the Apostles, records that the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. We cannot wait for everything to become a bed of roses, so to speak, to be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. Whatever our circumstances in life, we can still be filled with joy. We cannot allow those things, anything that comes against us, to suck the joy out of our lives. If we begin to focus more on our aches and pains, an infirmity, or a difficult situation, or when things just are not going the way we think they should, we are giving in to them, and we could lose the joy. We know the joy of the Lord in our strength, as Nehemiah tells us. Jesus told us that because he loves us, just as the Father loves him, he gives us his joy so that our joy may be complete. What a promise, Jesus gives us his joy so we can be, not only filled with Joy, but have complete joy, which means full to the brim joy. This may not mean we are jumping, leaping, and praising God, but it also could mean that. Yet, joy is deep within, yet if we are full of joy and the Holy Spirit, surely our countenance would reflect it. We would think that a believer whose joy is complete, that is, they are completely full of joy and the Holy Spirit, would not be walking around pained-faced, with a downcast attitude, or appearance, but their joy would be pouring out of them, and the evidence of being full of the Spirit could be visibly seen. How can we be half full of joy or half full of the Holy Spirit? The opposite of being full is not just half full, but being empty.