What am I Full of? Part 3
By Mike Rule

In the last couple of articles I have been talking about being squeezed. Pressure brings out what is really in us. I had this proven to me over and over again on our recent trip to Texas! There were many opportunities to be wrung out more thoroughly. There was bad service in a restaurant, a lousy hotel room, dealing with difficult people along the way, and the many offenses of driving on our highway system, to name a few. Becky would often tease me when she knew I was being squeezed and tell me to stop messing up the floor with all my black goo! She is such an encourager!

There is a purpose in all this squeezing. When a sponge is wrung out, it is then prepared to absorb. God calls us to live like sponges ready to absorb. Offenses, trials, difficulties -- all these things will come our way. We can either fight against them or absorb them. We can resist them, or welcome them and be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within. Christ through me can do everything I cannot do. But if I am so full of the black goo of self, can I really absorb anything? An offense is simply a circumstance in which I think I deserve something better. Oh how I love to think higher of myself than I ought! Christ did not fight against His circumstances; He embraced them as from His Father. I'm convicted that I so often fight and resist rather than yield. Yet, I can also see that if Christ in me is not the one handling the offenses and I am trying to absorb them on my own, I am in big trouble because I will build anger and resentment until I finally explode. All this continues bring the revelation of my desperate need for Him moment by moment.

"Lord, as you continue to wring me out and empty me of myself; as You continue to faithfully answer my prayer to make me weaker and weaker, prepare me to be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within. Let Your life pour out of me in all things. Safeguard this vessel to handle Your life and glory flowing out. Thank You for Your moment by moment reminders that I desperately need You. Thank You for Your faithfulness in keeping me."

His faithfulness endures forever!