Silly title!  But it gets the attention, doesn’t it?

Empty — defined by Worknik as:

• adj.
  Having nothing inside or on the surface; holding or containing nothing.
• adj.
  Having no elements or members; null.

That’s the word that kept coming to me today as I was running errands and at work and at lunch.  Empty.

Have you actually looked into the eyes of the people you casually encounter on a daily basis?  Try it.  Empty will come to you, too.  Oh, occasionally I run into someone who is half-full; but the best of the best is running into someone who is totally full–it is all over there faces, in their body language, and mostly, flooding out of their eyes.  These are the ones who are full to overflowing with life, light, love — the Holy Spirit of God.  They are full of life and their life is full.

What about the others?  The empty ones?  Their life may be full but they are not full of life.  Their eyes tell the whole story.  Just making it through one more day.  Or perhaps the desperation of planning a getaway in the hopes it will bring them some contentment.  Or the ones you know are hurting and helpless, and because they don’t know Jesus, hopeless!  So many opportunities to share the love of Christ.  So many opportunities to pray and encourage.  So many opportunities to share the truth before it is too late for them.

These are all pretty easy to pick out and relatively simple to minister to as led by the Holy Spirit.  The people who give me the most angst, however, are those who are empty but think they are full.  Try ministering to those people.  You can see it all over them — the emptiness, the lack, the desperation hidden behind the mask.  Yet they won’t admit it.  They are fine!  They know all about Jesus!  Why, just last Easter they were in church (or Christmas, or last month.)  Hmmm…what is it the Word impresses upon us?  Ah — there are none so blind as those who will not see.  Jeremiah 5:21 (‘Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not’)

Empty lives, empty hearts, and empty souls.  How horrible to think of all of those people missing out on spending eternity in the light of the Savior!  So today I am comforting myself with the thought that I can plant seeds, I can water seeds that someone else has planted, and maybe, just maybe, those seeds will produce a harvest for the Kingdom.  And those empty lives pursuing empty dreams and an even emptier eternity will be turned around and filled with the love and light of Jesus!  One at a time…..