Is your cup partly full or partly empty? Who is it that fills your cup?
While in Ghana, Africa, 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 70 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 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 eternity.
Now, imagine your own Jesus cup. Is it full today? Consider filling it further by seeing what opportunities may await you within a mission organization that meets your criteria for service. Register or login at MissionNext.
Nelson Malwitz, Founder, Chief Innovation Officer
Nelson is the generic Evangelical baby-boomer. Born in 1946, raised in the C&MA, he attended Urbana ’67 in college. He holds an MS degree in Chemical Engineering and worked in R&D positions in American industry for 33 years. Nelson is an inventor with formal training in methods of creative problem-solving. He was a founding elder at Walnut Hill Community Church in Bethel, CT (1982) and served in many leadership capacities of what is now one of the largest Evangelical churches in New England. In 1998 Nelson founded the Finishers Project, now MissionNext. Locally he attends a Torah study and is chairman of the sewer commission to serve among unchurched leaders.
