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PROGRAM D-7185
My question has been: When your cup runs over, what spills out? During the times when we are jostled on life’s roller-coaster seas, what’s inside of us will come spilling out. If it’s faith and trust and joy in the Lord, that will come out. If it’s bitterness or worry or self-centeredness, that will come spilling out.
The secret is to make sure you’re filled up on the inside with the right stuff. Then you don’t have to worry about what comes out. I love the song: “Fill my cup, Lord, I lift it up Lord. Come and quench this thirsting of my soul. Bread of heaven, feed me ’til I want no more. Fill my cup; fill it up and make me whole.”
We need cups filled with Jesus. I am more and more convinced that the focus of my life has to be simply and only Jesus. There’s an old hymn that I love which says: “Only Jesus, only Jesus, only he can satisfy. Every burden becomes a blessing, When I know my Lord is nigh.” It reminds me that regardless of the circumstances, if I’m filled with Jesus, I will be satisfied, I will be joyful, and I will be spilling over with the beauty of Jesus.
Oh, that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about negative situations, about difficult things. But what is so great about being a Christian is that with Jesus, we can know his peace and contentment and joy in the midst of all those troublesome situations.
How do we get our cups filled up with Jesus? Through the Word—the Bread of heaven. If the time you spend in the Bible is not very much and not consistent, your cup won’t be full of Jesus, and when it spills over, you won’t like what you see. But if you pour the Word of God and prayer into your cup regularly, then your cup will spill over with the peace and compassion of Jesus Christ.
You fill your cup up with Jesus by thinking about him all through the day. Do you practice his presence regularly? Do you communicate with him all through the day, and seek his guidance in all things? That will fill your cup up with Jesus.
So, I encourage you to use every jostle, every bump in the road as an opportunity to check up on yourself. When the boss upsets you and causes you to complain, you know you need to clean out the inside of that cup. When someone does you wrong, and you respond with patience and tolerance, you know Jesus is spilling out of your cup. When the money is low and you spill over with worry and fear, you need to work on the inside of the cup. When your health is not good, but you praise God anyway, you are spilling over the beauty of Jesus.
When your cup runs over, what spills out? A good question to ask ourselves every day.