CONCERT OF PRAYER

Pray Week 798

“Filling the Jar”

Matt 6:33 (NKJV) …But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you…

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Imagine for the moment that you are given a task to accomplish.  You are standing at a table with a large empty jar.  On the table are some rock chunks sized to just fit through the mouth of the jar.  You also have a measured amount of smaller rock pebbles, a pile of fine sand and a pitcher of water.  Your task is to fill the jar with all of the rocks, pebbles, sand and water.  The secret to successfully completing your task is to place the objects in the jar in a priority order.  If you put the sand or the pebbles in first you will not be able to fit the rock chunks.  The larger rock chunks must go in first, then to shake the pebbles into the gaps between the rocks.  This is followed by additional shaking to work the sand into all the remaining crevices and cracks. Finally, the water fills any remaining voids no matter how small.

The larger rock chunks represent all that is truly important in life.  Your eternal salvation and your personal daily relationship with Jesus are rock chunks.  Your spiritual and physical health, and your family and other divinely appointed relationships would also be rock chunks. Rock chunks matter in the present and tend to have an eternal spiritual impact for yourself and others.

…Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called… – 1 Tim 6:11

The smaller pebbles represent things that, although necessary in this life, in the grand scheme of eternity matter to a lesser degree than the rock chunks.  Our education, careers and jobs would be pebbles.  The fine grained sand represents everything else in this physical life that tends to matter very little.  Things that entertain us, our hobbies and recreational activities, are examples of sand. The water represents the Holy Spirit that touches all the areas of your life, cementing the relationships together and filling even the smallest void, making you whole and complete.  The jar with its fixed, finite space represents the span of our life on earth.  God has allotted to each of us a fixed amount of time.

O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! – Psalm 39:4

Why then do so many of us fill our jars with sand and pebbles first while neglecting the rock chunks?  Many of us are addicted to pleasure.  We devote our time to the pursuit of things that feel good or make us feel good.  We are slaves to the lust of our flesh and we fill our jars with all the sand we can.  Some will even go so far as to remove a rock chunk, perhaps their marriage, or an unwanted pregnancy in order to make room for more sand.

Some people focus on the pebbles first and foremost because they do not trust in God’s promise that if they seek Him and His Kingdom first, He will take care of the other things in their life.  They want to be in control rather than rely on Him in faith, and may even go so far as to remove the ‘Relationship with God’ Rock to make room for pebbles.  This is rationalized as a temporary removal, only until their finances are under control, or their career is on track. They plan to put the rock back later – but later never comes.

May the Holy Spirit give you wisdom and resolve to balance your life priorities with an eternal mindset and focus.  May you seek God’s kingdom and righteousness first as you grow in your relationship and trust in Him and His Living Word, Jesus Christ.