Living in the Shadow of His Hand

A Full Jar

“And we have such trust through Christ toward God.  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,” – 2 Corinthians 3:4-5

“You complete me”.  It’s a saying made famous by the movie “Jerry McGuire” in 1996 when he burst into the room of women and sought out his wife.  He goes through a whole persuasive speech to win her back and in it he defines his love for her by saying “You complete me.”  I’ve been fortunate enough to find a man that does meld with my soul so well that we can complete each other’s sentences, we know what the other is thinking without saying it, enjoy the same things, and just build each other up.  But as much as I love him, he doesn’t truly complete me.  That job was completed when I was 8 ½ years old and met Jesus.

Until we meet Jesus we are like these empty jars.  No one buys an empty jar just to have a jar.  Sure, the jar may be beautiful, but it serves no purpose remaining empty.  It’s not reaching its full potential if we just put it on a shelf empty.  That’s where the Holy Spirit comes in.  When we are saved and receive the same Spirit that fed the life of Christ into our empty jar, our life starts being fed (Ephesians 1:13-14, 2 Corinthians 1:22). Then we are complete, the jar has been filled.  And there’s a feeling of completeness, sufficiency, and even worth.

Contentment comes in knowing that God has completed you.  It’s not something that He’s going to do in the future.  It’s something He has already done.  His Spirit is alive in you.  If you can’t understand that, you’re not able to live a full life in Him.  You can’t be free to understand that everything you need is already in you – in the jar.  The jar may need some cleaning once in a while so that He can shine through, but He is there.  He completes you.  He daily feeds your life with His word, His way, His will, His thoughts, His guidance, His abilities, and you are being sanctified (purified, made holy, made better) by Him.  Trial by trial, blessing by blessing, every day, every minute, His Spirit in you is at work doing just one thing – making the jar into what He designed it to be.  And as Philippians 1:6 says, “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

“Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

 Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.” – Psalms 139:7-4

I thank my God that my soul knows Him VERY well.  This jar is full.