Sometimes that is the best way to describe how we feel. There are times we are "Full!" Not because we have just left our favorite restaurant, or when we excuse ourselves from the Thanksgiving meal, but our hearts are full. Our spirit is full because we realize how gracious God is to us.

"I'm full!" says the new father after he leaves the delivery room to inform both sets of parents he is a father, and they are grandparents. "I'm full!" says the father of the bride as he watches his daughter and new son-in-law drive away from church. "I'm full!" says the worship leader as he conveys his feelings when he steps to the platform to lead the gathering of believers to the throne of God. "I'm full!" says the gray-haired gentleman as he accepts the accolades and praises that come at the end of a long and dedicated career with the same company.

"I'm full!" says the college student after attending his first seminar with hundreds of other Christian college students.

"I'm full!" says the couple as they walk along the beach, knowing that their love is strong for each other and that their children are well.

God wants to fill us.

God wants to fill us. God longs to hear us say, "I'm full!" "I'm full of God."

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19 NIV)

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13 NIV)

Reimagining Church by Frank Viola Should a house of worship be a home? Viola suggests a return to the early Christian model of organic house churches.

Tom Norvell is the author of "A Norvell Note." He ministers at the Hermitage Church of Christ in Hermitage, Tennessee.

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