When the Cup Spills

Has there ever been a time when you’ve been hit by adversity, and are disappointed and surprised at what comes out of you? To tell you the truth, I have been there countless times.

But why are we  surprised? When I look back at these times of my life (some not so distant), the outcome doesn’t surprise me at all. We need to realize that what comes out of us is no different than what spills out of a cup…what you put in.

I want you to picture a cup…maybe even grab one if you can. What is a cup meant for? To hold liquid inside of it, right? Now, if you put water in the cup, what comes out of the cup if you knock it over?….water. What if you put milk in the cup?…milk comes out. What if you put muddy, irky water in the cup?…muddy, irky water comes out. You get the picture, right? What you put in the cup is what comes out of the cup. Well this is the same for our lives. When we spend time with God, we’re putting righteous stuff into ourselves….so when we get knocked over (adversity), righteousness will spill out. But when we’re replacing the our God time, with junk, junk spills out. And the keyword is when we get knocked over, not if.

If you look at the fruit that has come out of you recently, you can tell where you’ve been spending your time. And this is alwaysthe case. I know the times that I’m irritable, angry, or pushing my moral boundaries, are times when I haven’t been putting enough righteousness (Jesus), into my life.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. -Philippians 4:8

This is the key. We need to put pure things into our lives (our cup), daily, not just Sunday. If we are always aware of  what spills out of us, or our fruit, then we can be sure to know what we are putting into ourselves. We need to constantly check to see what our hearts are producing. The following scripture sums this up perfectly: 

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
       test me and know my anxious thoughts.

  See if there is any offensive way in me,
       and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24

When we find junk in our heart or life (cup), we need to begin to dilute it with Jesus. To keep what spills out of us pure requires much more than an occasional prayer, or random scripture reading. It is a day by day, moment by moment, choice by choice, lifestyle. So lets live a life that will spill out JESUS when it gets knocked over!