If you know me, you know that I love a good Coca-Cola classic from my local fine dining establishment known as McDonalds. Most of the time, I find myself sitting in the drive-thru with my order taken and ready to sip on that sweet, sugary goodness. However, I almost always leave frustrated with my drink. Not because the soda isn’t delicious; it is! Most of the time though my cup has been filled to the brim with ice which is taking up space usually reserved for the good stuff!
When I go through the drive-thru these days, I almost always ask for light ice. Why? Because my drink cup was designed to be filled with the good stuff! In the same way, each of us is a cup that God has designed to overflow. David declares in Psalm 23, that his cup overflows. God gave us a cup designed to be filled with the good stuff, his Spirit! His Spirit that comes to bring us joy, peace that surpasses all understanding, assurance of our forgiveness and much more! The command that Paul gives us in Ephesians 5 is to be filled with the Spirit. Sometimes though our cup is hard to fill. What makes us feel spiritually dry and unfilled? May I suggest that it isn’t God? Does the reality of God and of our access to “every spiritual blessing given to us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 1:3) change? Certainly not! Yet, our ability to receive can.
My ability to receive and experience God doesn’t change because God changes, but because my circumstances and the attitude of my heart changes. I’m the one who is prone to wander, prone to fill my cup up with the ice of life’s worries, and prone to leave the one who loves me. Not because God changes … but I do. He desires to fill our cup, and not only fill our cup once but he provides free and unlimited refills!
Here’s the challenge; evaluate your cup. Is your cup full—even overflowing? The command is to be filled! Your access to the richness of the God’s grace doesn’t change, sometimes ice gets in the way of our ability to taste and see the Lord’s goodness and his handiwork in our lives. Is there some “ice” that you can dump out this week to be better filled? Give the concerns and worries over to the one who loves and cares for you and be filled with his Spirit.
By Seth Redden
High School Pastor