Filling your life up and coming out empty

If you're like me, you tend to buy way too many things at the grocery store.  You stock up your fridge and feel really good about all the food you're going to eat throughout the week, and then the week passes by.  Then another week passes by, everything perishable expires, and you end up having to throw all that stuff out before it starts to mold.  And, of course, this means your fridge is empty.  So, you go through a week of having pretty much nothing to eat at home until you get a chance to go to the grocery store and start the process all over again.

I was reading 1 Peter 1:13-25 today, and it reminded me of just that.  In these verses, Peter is saying "set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed" and "be holy in all you do." Why? "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."  Later, Peter goes on to say, "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God."

This got me thinking, 'Why do I stock my life up with perishable things when I know that my life will come out of it empty?'  I waste away my life watching so many TV shows on Hulu, trying to figure out how to save up the most money just in case, and going grocery shopping for things I will probably end up throwing out anyway instead of filling my life with imperishable things: Jesus Christ, sincere love, and the word of God.  Now, I'm not saying don't watch TV or don't save money or don't go grocery shopping.  Those are all fine things to do.  But don't fill your life up with them and expect to be fulfilled.

This is what I am learning:
The empty way of life is a vicious cycle of trying to find fulfillment in empty things, and it is easy to get sucked in.  But the more and more you try to fill up on perishable things, the more tired, worn out, and disheartened you get, because after all that time and effort, you still end up empty.

The full way of life is harder.  It takes even more time and effort than the empty way, and it requires you to "prepare your minds for action [and] be self-controlled."  But in the full way of life, you aren't filling your life with perishable things.  God is filling you up with Jesus Christ, sincere love, and His word.  In God, we set our hope and faith and find our strength, because He fills us with what is imperishable.

The truth is, it's during the times in fellowship with other believers, worshiping God, reading His word, and sharing His love with others that I am fulfilled.  We don't have to live an empty life anymore; we've been redeemed from that through Jesus's unblemished and precious blood.  So, learn from my mistake of stocking up on perishable things and opt instead for a life filled with imperishable and enduring hope that God gives.