An Emptying Place
by Linda Rex
I’m sure most people have heard the argument as to whether or not a glass of water is “half-empty” or “half-full.” A person’s temperament often determines how they see the glass. An optimistic person may view the glass as being half-full, expressing gratitude that at least there is something in the glass to drink. A person with a more melancholy temperament will tend to see the glass as half-empty, being concerned that there may not be enough in the glass or that the water will run out before their thirst is quenched.
Having a “half-empty glass” mentality is often seen as a bad thing. “Be more optimistic!” people say. It’s a good thing to be optimistic, but in kingdom of God terms, being empty is actually considered a better state of being than that of being full. For example, Jesus said that it would be the “poor in spirit” who would be the ones who inherited the kingdom of God. (Matt. 5:3) He said it would be those who lost their lives who would find their lives. (Matt. 10:39; 16:25) It would be those who left everything behind and followed Jesus that would find real life in him. (Matt. 16:24-26). These are not our everyday modern life values—these are kingdom values, God’s values.
Jesus spoke these values out of the heart of who he was as the Son of God. As the Son of God and the Son of man—in other words, as the divine Word who became human flesh—Jesus knew and understood that God (Father, Son, and Spirit) lives in love and has for all eternity. By the Spirit the early church fathers came to see that God was revealed by Christ’s incarnational (God in human flesh) ministry to live in relationship, a relationship of being they called “perichoresis” or “circumincession.” They worked for centuries to find the best way to describe how it is that the Father, Son and Spirit are each distinct and yet are one—they are God. They live in self-emptying, self-giving oneness where there can be no division between the Persons of God, and yet they are each unique in their Being and in the relation they have with one another.
What is important to understand about this? Well, if you see the key concept I’m talking about in this blog—it is their self-emptying, self-giving oneness. It is the nature of God’s Being to be self-emptying. By definition “perichoresis” involves each Person of the Godhead “making room” or “making space” for the other. They fully indwell one another. Their nature is to make room for one another, and to make room for us by creating us and drawing us up into relationship with God in Christ by the Spirit.
So is it better to be half-full or half-empty? From what I’ve shared so far, I’m seeing that there is real value in being less than half-full and more than half-empty. It sounds like the real value is in being fully empty of self and self-concern. For when we are fully empty, God moves to fill that space with himself in Christ by the Spirit. It is in pouring ourselves out to God and to others that we find true fullness.
One of the places in which we can pour ourselves out is in the place of prayer. This is an excellent “emptying place” because prayer is our communication with the One who has and will pour himself out into us and for us in Christ through the Spirit. C.H. Spurgeon once wrote:
“…a true prayer is an inventory of wants, a catalogue of necessities, a revelation of hidden poverty. While it is an application to divine wealth, it is a confession of human emptiness. The most healthy state of a Christian is to be always empty in self and constantly depending upon the Lord for supplies; to be always poor in self and rich in Jesus; weak as water personally, but mighty through God to do great exploits; and hence the use of prayer, because, while it adores God, it lays the creature where it should be, in the very dust.” 1
The blessing of walking in a daily, moment by moment attitude of prayer is that we participate in the Holy Trinity’s divine self-emptying love and life. In pouring ourselves out in prayer for other people and about the problems going on around us, we participate in God’s work of changing other people’s hearts and lives and transforming the world we live in. As we do this we may find ourselves being more optimistic about the water in that glass, thanking God that it is half-empty so that he can fill it to the brim and overflowing.
Holy God, thank you so much that you are always pouring yourself out into us and for us moment by moment as we go through our lives. Grant us the grace to pour ourselves out into and for others as you do. It is your nature, your heart of love we need. We praise you for it, Father, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, in your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.
1 Spurgeon, C. H. Morning and evening: Daily readings (Complete and unabridged; New modern edition.). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006.
Our Life in the Trinity 