More Than Living When You Feel Empty

More than. Two words that stir hope when our days feel empty, when the trite tasks must always be repeated but inside you feel bone weary and depleted. More than when we flounder and feel purposeless. More than when life hurts and we feel powerless. More than when it’s hard to see that there is still light when Covid still darkens our world.

Today let us coax out hope and let her fly.

Because we were not made to feel empty.

We were not made to drop our head and accept what is as all there can be.

We were created with a breath of heaven in our lungs, a pull towards abundant, open-heart living. We were made for something wild. We were made to be alive. To connect. To help others know that God is near and shout glory, glory, glory to Him through everything we do.

More than living is missional in nature because it entails nurturing others’ ability to love God and love others better. It lends purpose and soul-quenching connection, pushes back the empty by filling.

It’s more than intentional living. More than self-help and self-care and feel-good messages. More than friendship. More than serving. More than rote curriculum and church activities and even our weekly small group.

If you are feeling empty and discontent, my prayer for you today is that you can move toward more than what you have known, more than what you believe, and more than what you see.

More than what we have known

I’ve known both—the empty and insecure, and the warmth of being known by near friends who know the real me. I’ve gone only where I felt I was welcome, and I’ve welcomed others who didn’t know where to go. I’ve bent under the work of doing and giving and striving for excellence, and I’ve felt the peace of letting my work overflow out of a solid understanding of who God says I am. I’ve filled our life with activities, and I’ve filled our yard and home with people.

Missional living is more than what I knew when I went on mission trips because that was the only answer I had for the call to go. It’s more than what I knew when my college dorm-life bubble was pinpricked with graduation and I was starving for community. It’s more than what I knew when I volunteered for every outreach and attended every church offering. It’s more even than what I knew when small group was one more once-a-week activity.

Missional living is more than living because it pulls into my Christian paradigm the words, works, and ways of Jesus (as I learned from Everyday Mission training). It encompasses intentional growth in spiritual formation, authentic community, and loving others in practical ways. Missional living melds proximity and intentionality as I do life with my neighbors throughout the week and lean into organic discipleship opportunities. It may start small, but it moves me towards incorporating mission into every aspect of my life.

More than what we believe

While more than living is more than what I have known, it is likewise more than what I believe. Reading from The Message version, I find it spelled out in James 2:14: “Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it?” Belief cannot reach its full potential unless it moves my feet as well as my heart.

Live given. Ann Voskamp penned in The Way of Abundance that “Love is giveness. Love is surrender. Love is being broken and given like bread.” Her words undid me, and like her sticky note printables, stuck with me. Given became my word for the year.

More than living is living given. It’s giving away our lives to the One who has given it all for us. It’s giving our presence and our noticing and our real, authentic friendship to our neighbors. It’s sharing meals and tools and playtime and babysitting and a hand with projects. It’s being interruptible—giving our time, our attention, our listening. More than living is not keeping to ourselves the ways God is cultivating us on the inside, but giving it away so it can ripple out beyond it into the lives of those near us.

More than what we see

God is always working even when we don’t see results right away. In this way, more than living bears in mind that there is more than what we can see. The words of Lisa TerKeurst resonate here, “Trusting God without seeing solutions is hard. But that’s the fertile soil where faith grows.”

More than living involves putting action to our belief, but it also entails trusting that God can see the bigger picture when we can only see what is immediately before us. Often we don’t see the impact of the ripples we begin in the here and now. More than living is living a life worth imitating regardless of the response. It’s living for an audience of One yet being visible to others—imitating God regardless of who imitates us.

How to adopt more than living

Perhaps today there is a restlessness stirring, a hope gently rising within you. You’ve known the empty—felt the robotic movements through a life that lacks purpose. You long for something more.

Community close as your doorstep.

A life of together rather than alone.

To be truly known.

To gain traction through accountability.

To share the celebrations and the tears, to encourage and be encouraged, bless and be blessed.

To be a conduit for God’s love outpoured.

To live a life marked by meaning.

And maybe your question today is how do we breach the empty and adopt more than living? If that’s you, I’d love to let you in on what is working for me.

1. I get real with God. I lay before Him where I feel empty. I name it in His presence.
2. I ask for His eyes. He can see what I cannot. He knows how to fill me—so I ask Him to author a vision bigger than I can dream on my own.
3. I trust that there is more than what I can see as I seek to respond to the ways He nudges me to belief and action, no matter how small it feels.

If you are feeling empty, get alone with the One who can see more than where you are right now. If your life lacks purpose, walk with Him as He moves you to more than mere belief. If you are feeling discouraged, ask Him for His vision as you live a life that ripples out beyond you.

Prayer for when we feel empty

Jesus, we long for more than the life we are currently living. Would You lend us Your eyes as we look at our neighborhoods? Help us see more than houses, more than mere people coming and going. Please show us how we can join You in Your mission to be near to people right here in our neighborhood.

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