Formed to be Filled

The earth began formless and empty, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (Gen 1:2). Then God formed it -creating light, separating the water above -sky -from the water below, separating the water below from dry land. Then, he filled it with plants, lights and stars, animals and birds, fish, then humans.

Adam was formed from the dust of the ground, and then filled with the breath of life (Gen 2:7). When we are born again in the new Adam, Jesus Christ, we are “born of water and the Spirit” (Jn 3:5). We are born of water -through the waters of baptism, brought out of death into life -brought out of darkness into light. When we are born again we are born of the Spirit -filled with the Holy Spirit of God! The first thing the Nicene Creed says about the Spirit is that he is “the Lord, the giver of life.” It was he who, like a mother dove, first filled creation and breathed life into it. So it is “the Spirit who gives new life -first to Jesus in the tomb (Rom 8:11), and then to us.” (Delighting In The Trinity, Michael Reeves, p. 85). The Holy Spirit fills us with His own life -“the life of fellowship with the Father and the Son”! (Reeves, p. 90). “Through the giving of the Spirit, God shares with us – and catches us up into – the life that is his.” (Reeves, p. 94). When we are filled with the Spirit of God, we are filled with the life of God -resulting in the fruit of the Holy Spirit -love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control. We are filled with God’s life bursting out in expressions that are beyond us -creativity, art and songs (Eph 5:18-19).

We are formed to be filled. Formed in God’s image, filled with God’s Spirit, we become like our God: fruit-filled and life-giving.