Is your cup partly full or partly empty? Who is it that fills your cup?
While in Ghana, I stayed in the home of a well-respected and effective ministry leader. It was a very nice home by Ghana standards (and by US standards 60 years ago!) They could not drink the water; the water pressure fluctuated, and the lighting was dim. There was no air conditioning, no washer or dryer, and a very small kitchen. But none of this really mattered.
We spoke together about life—matters of family relationships, friends and working with others in missions. He spoke of how life from marriage to ministry did not meet the more idealistic expectations of his youth. But to him, all that was okay.
He talked with years of wisdom of how he imagines his personal Jesus cup. He does not rely on others to fill his physical, emotional, or intellectual needs. Rather, he has learned to count on the Lord to fill his cup to overflowing. Quoting from Psalm 23, despite life’s challenges, “My cup runs over.”
It is Peter who writes in 1 Peter 1, just after urging us to count it all joy when we go through various trials, “Through [Jesus] you have confidence in God, … so that your faith and hope are in God.” It does not matter what the circumstances are, we must be satisfied with Jesus. Peter urges us in this chapter to push through our trials and “set our hope on the grace that is to come to us.” Yes, the grace that is to come to us. After all, we have been redeemed from a horrible fate.
Now, imagine your own Jesus cup. Is it full today?
