An Unplugged Lamp
A high-end designer lamp can be beautiful, expensive, and perfectly crafted. It might have the latest smart bulb and a stunning, elegant design.
However, if the plug is pulled just half an inch away from the outlet, the lamp becomes useless in a dark room. It has the potential to shine, but it lacks the power because it is disconnected from the source. It doesn't need to be fixed or repaired; it simply needs to be plugged in.
We often spend our energy trying to fix our behavior or decorate our lives to look more spiritual. But our light doesn't come from our own effort; it comes from our connection to Jesus. Abiding is the simple act of staying plugged into the power source. If you feel dark, cold, or spiritually exhausted, the solution isn't to work harder—it’s to check your connection. You may not need a new bulb or shade; you just need to plug back in to the power source.
"Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:4-5, NIV).
Filling Cupcakes and the Spirit
Cupcake aficionado, Jamie, of My Baking Addiction has this to say about the two best ways to fill cupcakes:
One way is to use an apple corer. You take the apple corer and gently push it into the center of the cupcake about halfway down, rotating the corer to cut a full circle. Then, pull the corer out of the cupcake. Push the small cake round out of the corer. Once all of the cupcakes have been hollowed, pipe or spoon in your favorite filling, use a small knife to cut the top from each of the cupcake centers, place on the tip of the filling, and top with your favorite frosting.
The other way is by inserting a paring knife at a 45-degree angle just off-center of the top of the cupcake, insert it about halfway down into the cupcake. Keeping the knife at an angle, cut a circle around the center of the cupcake. Lift out the cake cone that you have just cut. As with the other method, once all of the cupcakes have been hollowed, pipe in your favorite filling and top with our favorite frosting.
Each of us have our own stories and unique experiences of how we came to faith, some "this" way and some "that." But the end result is the same. Upon salvation we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit and are called to be "filled" with His abiding presnece and influence.
It is in yielding ourselves to the sweetness of the Holy Spirit within that we find our purpose and power.
"And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Romans 5:5, ESV).
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23, ESV).
"To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:7, ESV).
Experience God's Power
My dream car is a burnt orange 1968 Chevy Camero (insert your own favorite). I remember pulling up behind one at a car wash when I was in High School. My dad was with me and I told him how I wished I had the money to buy one just like it. He said, "Wait till you're older. Someday it won't seem so far out of reach."
I've talked to my wife about this long-lost dream and she said, "Even if you had such a car you wouldn't likely drive it because it doesn't fit who you are or how you've lived your life." How does one argue with such wisdom?
But, let's Image for a moment that, at last, I bought the car anyway and had it sitting in my garage, and that every day I went out and sat in the car and daily took a chamois cloth and wiped all the dust off its shiny surface. Imagine also that I studied the owner's manual and could quote sections of it from memory. And, that I went so far as to order the blueprints and schematics so I could study every detail of my Camero. And, that I joined a Camero club and attended conventions, and even once traveled to the place the factory once stood. And, imagine that I so loved the car that I talked about it all the time.
I'm sure you would think it quite odd if I had a car I loved that much but never actually took out for a drive.
In many ways, that is what we've done with our modern expressions of Christianity.
We've been saved. We have Christ in our hearts. We are his and he is ours. We love and adore him. We enjoy sitting in his presence. We sing songs about him and in praise of him, as we should.
We love the Bible and love to listen to experts who know the Book so well that they can quote portions of it and tell stories of what the Lord has done in the past. Some of us have even traveled to the Holy Land.
But while we do all that, like someone with a 68 Camero that never experiences its roar as it cruises down the highway, we often fail to so pray and believe Christ that we actually experience the power of God's saving grace.
"And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness." (Acts 4:31)