EMPTY!
It was late evening after a hectic day, Mrs Boech was about retiring to bed to rest for the day. She suddenly remembered something to pen down and ransacked her room for a pen without success and then stumbled on one; a new purple pen with its cover, inside a white bag. She picked it with a sigh of relief, opened it and was about to start writing when she noticed the biro was one with a neat empty outer covering without ink. She felt disappointed and then wondered why the pen looked useable. Some humans are like this, dressed outwardly in a glorious way but without inner substance and beauty of Christ.
Our Lord Jesus Christ also came to a fig tree in the Bible. This tree had leaves but without fruits (Mathew 21:19). Fig trees bear fruits before the leaves are in full bloom but this one did not. It was disappointing and the Lord cursed the fig tree. This fig tree is like the case of some believers today; their outward adornment shows they still believed the Lord, their language shows they are Christians but their lives are empty. Thy lack depth in their Christian faith. No strong knowledge of the scriptures or firm stand on bible doctrines. No fervency in prayers, they are lukewarm in evangelism but busy with church activities. They sleep off in church within minutes of arrival and are shaky in their Christian faith. They are empty and lack inner strength and substance. With little trials of faith, they give up following the Lord.
The Pharisees were pronounced as whited sepulchers by the Lord Jesus. They made good the outer cup, but the inside remained dirty (Matthew 23:25-28). They made a show of what they were not, just to be highly exalted among men. They were hypocrites and Jesus reproved them for this. An irony of this is that there are those whose outward appearance may portray as though they are weak but they are mighty in the Lord. Paul the Apostle wrote weighty letters to different churches of the gentiles but some carnal Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 10:10 referred to his presence as being weak and his speech contemptible. They were so myopic, what a pity! David was almost hindered by his brothers to face Goliath. They saw only his small stature and the fact that he had no physical weapon to fight the giant. They had forgotten that weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4)
The question is are you empty or full of inner strength in the Lord? Our heavenly race cannot be run with the arms of the flesh neither can our warfare be fought with carnal weapons. We can go the Lord for a refreshing and a renewal so we run the race that is set before us efficiently. The Lord is willing to strengthen us but we must wait on the Lord in prayers and study of His word. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles… (Isaiah 40:3) Create that time to wait on the Lord and there shall be dayspring from on high (Amen).