Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
--Philippians 2:5-8
Dictionary.com defines a vacuum as, "a place of emptiness, devoid of matter."
I would also defines a vacuum as something that sucks. As in, when you are vacuuming the carpet, a sucking action occurs. Whatever creates the vacuum seeks to fill it, and not necessarily with good things. (Many moons ago, when my husband worked at Sears, an angry woman came storming through the department, dragging her Hoover behind her. She plunked it down in front of the salesperson and announced, "This vacuum SUCKS!" It took every ounce of restraint for the salesperson not to ask what the problem was, then. Never mind.)
We tend to think of a vacuum as a cold, lifeless state. Yet in effect, this is how Jesus would have us order our living.
We think we have filled our lives with things that matter; yet perhaps all we have really done is filled our lives and crowded out the Christ.
We are told that there is a space in our hearts that only God (or Jesus or love) can fill. Yet we try to fill it with so many lesser things. And not just our hearts, but our homes, our families-- our lives.
If I just had a newer car, my life would be so much better.
Oh, if only I could afford a trip, just to get away from this rat race. . . .
I need a bigger house, more room for the kids' stuff.
(Disclaimer: These are things I have heard. I like my car and actually would love to have less room.)
But here's the rub: It's not that we need more of any thing.
We are reminded by Paul that our lives, like that of Jesus the Christ, need to be emptied of all that is unnecessary.
All the stuff and bother of our daily existence, things that weigh us down and cause us to feel inadequate in the eyes of the world.
Sometimes, I think, we kind of conveniently forget that Jesus was at once fully human and fully divine. So to me, that says he had much of the same internal struggling going on within that we face. He was simply better equipped to handle it, silence the nonsense and hear the Father's voice more clearly.
In Gethsemane. "Father, take this cup-- BUT-- not my will be done, but yours."
Jesus emptied himself of all his humanity, became like a servant. Looked like us, yet humbled himself in total obedience to the Almighty and died the death of a criminal. For us.
Became a vacuum, empty of that which matters not, filled in its stead with God's perfect love.
And when he had died, remember-- Jesus promised he would send his spirit, the Paraclete/ Comforter/ Holy Spirit, to reside with us and in us until he returns.
How much room is there in your life for the presence of the Spirit?
What might you need to send to the curb?
Maybe, just maybe less becomes more. More love. More power. More of You in my life. Amen.
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