Thought For Today: “Fillability”

“And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18)

Going back to the Greek language, this passage in Ephesians is written in the passive voice, which means that being filled with the Holy Spirit isn’t something we can do; rather it is something only God can do. It is a work of God.

Now, there are two important implications from this. First, the Holy Spirit is ready and willing to fill us, and second, we must make ourselves available to be filled.

To explain this, I like to use the word, “fillability.” Now, this is not a word that we’ll find in any dictionary, but I think it fits. When we use to get our cars filled up at the gas station, we’d pull in and tell the station attendant to “fill ‘er up.” And the attendant knew that this meant two things. First the car’s gas tank was close to empty, and that second, we wanted our gas tank filled up.

God is ever ready and willing to fill us. All we need to do is make ourselves available to be filled. It’s what you might call the spirit of fillability.