What is the state of your cup these days? What is it full of? Is it full of chaos and stress and busyness? Is it full of demands and expectations and agendas? Is it full of fear and anxiety and insecurity? The truth of the matter is that we are always full of something, be it something good or be it something not so good. And this time of year it seems to be real easy to be full and not even be totally aware of what we're full of. The reason this is important is because what we are full of is what will spill out onto those around us.
That's one of the reasons I love Psalm 23 so much. It encourages us to make time and space to be full of the right stuff--God. As a matter of fact it doesn't just encourage us to make time and space, but requires us to make time and space. It reminds us that if we are truly following Jesus, and not just some compulsion to do or to be something or someone other than what he made us to be, we will be making time and space. Just look at the language of the Psalm: he makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. So when I am truly following Jesus, making time and space is a necessity. It is a matter of obedience. Why? Because it is through the process of making time and space--and having our souls restored--that he makes our cups overflow. Jesus doesn't want those he has given us to pursue and care for to receive just anything that spills out of our cups, he wants them to receive him. And they will only receive him if that's what we are full of. He wants to fill us so full of himself that his life in us wells up and overflows to all of those around us. That is what ministry is all about.
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