A Cup Running Over

A Cup Running Over

Is glass half full or half empty? They say your answer depends on your outlook on life. But as Christians our life does not depend on us or on our outlook on life. Our cup is always full. Because our life depends on God and the Holy Spirit fills the portion that is empty.

John the Baptist leads the way: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30, AMP) The less we are, the more prominent place God has in us. The emptier we become, the more room God has to work in and through us.

Our goal in life is not to become so independent that we would not need God. Instead our goal is to become less and let God take over our lives. The less we are, the more God can use us.

Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal.2:20, MSG)

When we have died to ourselves, we can be raised up with Christ.
When we have been reduced to nothing, we are ready to be filled with God.
When we are empty of ourselves, we can truly be fulfilled in the Holy Spirit.

Hence the aim of spiritual growth is not to become independent of God. Instead our aim is to be fully intertwined with God. A truly spiritual person knows s/he is fully dependent on God in everything. We will never graduate from spiritual formation. We will always need God. We will always be dependent on God’s grace.

We’re depending on God;
      he’s everything we need.
   What’s more, our hearts brim with joy
      since we’ve taken for our own his holy name.
   Love us, God, with all you’ve got—
      that’s what we’re depending on.
(Psalm 33: 20-22, MSG)

This diminishing process can be scary, because we might think we are loosing our touch as we become less. But when you find yourself reduced to nothing, there is only one thing to do: praise God. When we praise God in our emptiness, amazing things start happening. When we praise God, our emptiness is filled with the Holy Spirit. And our cup runs over.

 

Gracious God,
May you increase and we decrease.
Enable us to let go of the pretense
that we could do it on our own.
Be with us as we become nothing.
We depend on your love and grace!
Come and fill us with your Spirit!
May our hearts brim with joy!
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Is your class half full or half empty? Or is it fulfilled with the Spirit?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you decrease and Christ increases in you!

Image courtesy of Rick Lundskow. Linking up today withBrag on God Friday.

8 thoughts on “A Cup Running Over

  1. I love this post!  It’s not whether my glass is half empty or half full, but rather whether it is full of God or full of me  and my concerns.

    Thanks for sharing!

  2. Hi Mari-Anna,This diminishing process can be scary, all right, because when we aim for it and ask for it, God allows into our lives those things that *will* diminish us, will knock away the crutches that we didn’t even realize we leaned on so heavily, and allow things (like people) we once trusted, that we depended on, to become maybe even frightening threats instead! 

    Who in their right mind, according to the world’s thinking, would want stuff like that to happen? But it is part of the process that reveals to us our own smallness and helplessness, and  brings us to the point where we find ourselves, “reduced to nothing,” utterly dependent on God rather than anything else at all. Then, for sure, no one is going to receive praise but God. 

    Is the result an “empty” life, then? Or, as we have grown closer to Him and His kingdom, is it not the *fullest* life, because the soul emptied of self, even in this way, becomes filled more and more with the fullness of Him Who fills the Universe?

    1. Thank you, Sylvia, for your thoughtful comment. Yes, when *we* are empty, then we are living our lives to the fullest. Then we are living in the fullness of God, not in the fullness of ourselves. And nothing compares to that!
      May God bless you richly, sister!

  3. dying to self, yes, each to our own spritual growth, if He is not increasing in us, we r not in tune to doing what we were created for ~ His purpose, His Will Be Done to give our CREATOR the Glory…forgive us LORD, JESUS, & help us to do better in letting the precious HOLY SPIRIT complete us to spilling over :))) hugs, Mari~Anna!

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