Fill My Cup

"You prepare a table before Me in the presence of My enemies. You anoint My head with oil; My cup overflows." -Psalm 23:5

The word "cup" is mentioned many times in the Bible, mainly as a reference to drinking and eating, but it is also spiritually significant. A cup implied what filled your heart, or what was about to fill your heart, by drinking. Jesus inquired of His disciples, "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" (Mark 10:38)

When I was young, my mom used to tuck me in every night before I went to bed. After we read a bedtime story, she would ask me "how is your cup?" I would either say, "Good!", "Half-full", or "Kind of empty." She would hug me more depending on the answer I gave. She would say "I want your cup to be overflowing!" It made me smile.

Doesn't God think the same way about us? Doesn't He always want our "cups" to be filled to overflowing, with His love, goodness, and grace? There is good reason for that. God desires that we know and experience His love every day, but there is also another reason: He desires that His love be felt by a hurting world in need. Mother Teresa said, "Intense love does not measure, it just gives."

Church services, times of worship and times of prayer are some of those great times of refreshment where we get filled up with God's Spirit and love. But we can't stay there - Jesus tells us to go out into the world and make disciples of all nations. (Matthew 28:19) If we sit in the pew for too long without any movement, we get picky and restless. The call that's inside of us grows dormant.

"LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure." -Psalm 16:5 How full is your cup today? Are you ready to pour out the love that's within you to a hurting world in need?

Related resource: Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard

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