"Are you full of _____"?

Articles From Our Bulletins

Philip C. Strong
12/15/21 - Bulletin Articles

If your mind just filled in the blank with a crude word, I think I know why. Most likely, either: 1) You have a “potty” mouth that is connected to stained heart, Matt.15:18; or, 2) Even though you don’t use that kind of speech yourself, and may even disdain it, you spend much of your time around foul-mouthed people and thus hear it all the time, cp. 2Pet.2:8ff. However, there are other options- both in language and life. For instance, you can be full of…

Light- “The eye is the lamp of the body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light… If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays,” Luke 11:34a,36;

Grace and Truth like Jesus- “And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth,” John 1:14;

Gladness with His Ways and Presence- “Thou has made known to me the ways of life; Thou wilt make me full of gladness with Thy presence,” Acts 2:28; Psa.16:11;

Faith, the Holy Spirit, Grace, and Power- “… and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit… And Stephen, full of grace and power…” Acts 6:5,8;

Joy- “And the disciples were continually filled joy and the Holy Spirit,” Acts13:52;

Goodness and Knowledge- “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another,” Rom.15:14;

Confidence and Comfort- “Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction,” 2Cor.7:4;

Christ and His Love- “and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God,” Eph.3:19; “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ,” Eph.4:13;

Fruit of Righteousness- “having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God,” Phil.1:11;

Knowledge of His Will- “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,” Col.1:9; and,

Mercy and Good Fruits- “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy,” Jas.3:17.

It is said that the use of “bad” language is often a sign of a poor vocabulary. Hopefully we’ve seen from the above that in language and life, there are better options. So, don’t just “keep it clean,” keep it “good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear,” Eph.4:29. How? Be filled with (‘full of’) and “walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh,” Gal.5:16.