Do you ever feel empty? Driving on fumes, leaking out whatever is left inside you? You rush into your car to get on the road and a few miles into your drive, you look down at the gas gauge and see the big fat E. Pretty soon the orange light flashes on “low fuel”.

Do you ever feel spent and poured out? Unnoticed and unappreciated. Consumed and drained, worn out and expended. I talked with my bestie about serving and those words marked our attitude. Exhausted and walked over.

And then I read about a man named who lived a life of sacrifice. Philippians 2:7 describes a man who emptied himself and took on a position that was seemingly insignificant. He humbled himself and received that which he didn’t deserve. Long story short, he was exalted, but not until after he’d sacrificed in the most literal sense of the word.

And I’ve been called to imitate Him.

Denying myself flies in the face of my desire to preserve myself. How often I want to tell God where I’ll sacrifice, under what conditions I’ll pour myself out. And most of the time, I tell God which certain people I want to be watching me and saying “Well done.”

Following God, serving and sacrificing is easy when afterwards the adjective “hero” is used to describe you. But if God leads you on a road that feels like you’re becoming a doormat, that’s an entirely different thing.

Doormats get stepped on, muddied, and left all alone in the cold. Nobody wants to be a doormat. We all want to be exalted, recognized, appreciated, and significant. But perhaps that’s not the right heart and attitude. Perhaps the man who revolutionized the face of this earth and the way we look at God and man did so because of his mindset. And that mindset, that he came to give and give some more, until it hurt–that mindset governed all he said and did.

I don’t have that mindset, at least consistently.
I don’t want to be a mere drop in a bucket, not remembered, but totally used up.
Or maybe I do.

Maybe this life really becomes abundant with joy the day I pour myself out, offering all that He is in me to others. Because if I’m really honest, the reason I feel empty, running on fumes is because in and of myself, I am lacking. But when I stop to fill up my “tank”, to sit and receive all that God has for me each day, then I’m not leaking, but overflowing.

Overflowing with grace, love, patience and peace. Overflowing with gentleness, humility, joy, and kindness. Overflowing with goodness, self-control, faithfulness, and mercy. Overflowing with all that He is.

May we overflow, not leak. May we have the same attitude as that of Christ. May we offer ourselves as living sacrifices.  And may we rejoice, for this life really is full when we give, and serve, and minister to those around us.