EMPTY BASKETS

 

Yesterday as I prayed, asking how we might help and reach the people around us, and how we might see them walk out full and purposeful lives in Jesus, I felt the Lord say that many come "with empty baskets".

As He said this, I realised that in many cases the whole emphasis is on people coming to know Jesus, but there is less importance given to helping them walk with Him and get to know Him better.  An hour a week in church wont do that for the majority, they need something a whole lot more personal.

It seemed to me that the challenge was for each of us to keep our baskets full, always containing something ready in season for where it would be needed.

The empty baskets appeared to be the outreaches, and good works that salve Christian conscience but cost the individual only a small proportion of their time and effort out of all the rest of daily life.

Coming with a full basket into daily life and into the midst of the communities in which we live has a constant and ongoing influence way beyond what we may ever see.

Are our baskets full enough to be carried daily, hourly, into the lives of those around us, giving our the live, love and hope that is ours for all eternity in Jesus Christ?

I believe as we allow Him to fill the basket, and then go out with what we have been given, we will find ourselves distributing the loaves and the fishes.  I don't believe the baskets will ever be empty but will be constantly filled, replenished as we empty them.  I believe our own lives will be enriched beyond anything we have yet experienced.

How full are our baskets?

The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope. The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn't diminish or weaken over time.
It's the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you've been hungry for more. Colossians 1:5 & 6 (The Message)