And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit: speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music from your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.
Ephesians 5:18-21 HCSB
If you have lived in southeast Louisiana you have experienced the pothole. A pothole is a break in the asphalt or road surface that is caused by water weakening the underlying soil. As the soil weakens and the surface experiences strain from the vehicles passing over it a pothole forms. If a pothole is not filled, it will just grow bigger. If potholes become too big or too deep they can cause damage to your vehicle.
It’s understandable that it would be expensive to replace an entire road because of a few potholes, so often times the governmental agency in charge of that road will simply fill in the pothole with asphalt. Filling it with sand, or with potting soil would do no good as that would just wash away and the hole would get bigger.
Sometimes we have potholes in our hearts and we try to fill them with the wrong things. When we try to fill these holes with things like anger, drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality or any other kind of sin we are just making the hole bigger. We are making things worse.
Our hearts should be filled with the Holy Spirit. Our scripture passage tells us we should not get drunk with wine, but be filled by the Holy Spirit. When a pothole is filled, it’s not a permanent fix. As traffic continues to drive over it, it will eventually erode again making it necessary for it to be refilled. Our hearts are a lot like that. When we accept Christ as our Savior, he sends His Holy Spirit to fill our heart so that we might not sin. But, as life has its wear and tear on our hearts, the surface erodes and potholes form. These potholes in our heart can only be filled by the Holy Spirit. Anything else will not properly fill the hole and will cause even worse erosion and bigger holes. Only the Holy Spirit is strong enough to repair these holes in our heart.
Just as the pothole may need to be filled over and over again, so might our hearts. We should pray continually for God to fill us with His Holy Spirit. Paul tells us in Galatians 5:16 that if we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. He goes on to say that the flesh craves what is opposed to the Spirit so that they oppose one another. As Christians we will face temptations, some of these temptations may be too big for us to handle. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. This is why it is so important with us to be filled with His Holy Spirit.
Proverbs 3:5-6 is one of my favorite scripture passages. It tells us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. It tells us to think about Him in all we do and He will guide us on the right paths.
I pray daily for God to fill me with His Holy Spirit. I know that temptations and trials and tribulations cause those holes to erode and need to be filled before they become a danger to me. I know that filling them with anything else just won’t do. Being filled with the Holy Spirit doesn’t necessarily make us sinless, but it helps us to correct problems before they become disasters.
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit seals us until the day of redemption. Ephesians 1:13 says, “When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” Ephesians 4:30 warns us against grieving God’s Holy Spirit as we were sealed by Him for the day of redemption. It goes on to say that we must remove bitterness, anger, wrath shouting, slander and malice. It tells us that we must be kind and compassionate to each other forgiving one another as God forgives us.
There are all kinds of things that these holes can be filled with, but only one thing that works and that’s God’s Holy Spirit. If you are trying to fill that hole with anything else, you are wasting your time and making matters worse.
Have a great day!