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Is there some adversity in your life at present? Do you have a situation that is getting to you? Maybe it’s a person you work with, or your boss, or the whole job itself. Perhaps it’s financial difficulties or a health problem. It could be almost anything. If your cup is being jostled right now, what is spilling out?
If you’re not happy with what you see spilling out of your cup from time to time, then you need to get the inside clean, really clean. Turn those adversities into positive movement in your spiritual life. The earlier you begin, the better and the easier it is to face yourself and make changes.
Remember, if you keep going through life, refusing to look at what is spilling out of your cup and get that cup cleaned up, as you grow older those irritating, unpleasant, un-Christlike traits will become more and more entrenched and more and more difficult to clean out.
Let me remind you of Romans 5:3-5:
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Our cups are jostled to show us what’s inside, so that we can develop a mature Christian character. It’s rather painful sometimes to have to face up to the mess that’s spilling out of our cups, but the sooner we face it, confess it, and ask God to change us, the better equipped we’ll be to let God fill our cups with himself, so that when we spill over, people see the likeness of Christ in us.
Often, we use the expression “my cup overflows” when we feel particularly blessed and happy. Well, that’s the way it should be—our cup should overflow with good things but not just when the circumstances are good. Even in the tough times, even when we don’t feel like it, even when we can’t see what God is doing, even when we are plagued with discouragement or doubts—even then in the midst of the trouble, our cups should overflow with God’s goodness.
Today check it out: Does your cup overflow with good things only when things are going your way? Or does it overflow with God’s goodness to you even in the midst of trouble?