Thursday, January 22, 2009

THANKFUL THURSDAY...a cup to drink from

Have you ever poured a glass of milk and started to drink it but only to discover that it was sour? It tastes so awful that you spit it out. No one wants to drink a glass of sour milk.

Now imagine a cup filled with, not sour milk, but with the hot, punishing anger of God against sin. Can you imagine the fury of God against everything evil (put into liquid form) and then poured into a cup.

Now imagine being asked to drink from that cup.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, this is exactly what Jesus faced on the night before His crucifixion. He did not want to drink from the cup.

He cried out to God not once, but three times, asking God to take the cup away, if at all possible. However, Jesus did end up drinking from that cup, every bit of it - so that we would not have to drink it.

He drank the cup of wrath so we could be offered the cup of salvation. The cup that is offered to us is filled with such love that it can never spoil, it can never run empty.

It is always full and overflowing.

Today, I stop and reflect on that cup, the one that is available to me because of the sacrifice of Jesus. I am so thankful for salvation!

WHICH CUP WILL YOU DRINK FROM?

The cup of sour milk (God's judgement)
or
The cup of salvation

PSALM 116:13 "I will lift up the cup of salvation and
praise the Lord's name for saving me."

LORI from Laurel Wreaths reflection is hosting THANKFUL THURSDAY this week. Please join her and all of the other grateful hearts today. You can find their posts HERE!

HAVE YOU VOTED IN THIS WEEK'S POLL YET? take time to vote...find it on the side section of this blog. YOUR OPINION MATTERS!

14 comments:

Erika said...

Those are such great thoughts to ponder! Thank you for posting this.

Denise said...

Praise God for the precious cup of salvation. Bless you sweet one.

i said...

I too am thankful for the cup of salvation. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful post. God bless!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. We should all be thankful for God's love that He gave us the way to salvation. Blessings to you! :)

Beth in NC said...

That was beautiful Laurie. I can't imagine. We were just singing a song at church on Sunday (I'm sure you'll recognize these lyrics) ...

I'll never know, how much it cost, to see my sin, upon that cross! Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that You're my God!

Bless you!
Beth

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this reminder! Sharing in this way was truly awesome! Thank you!
Tanya

Jennifer said...

I am so thankful today for the cup of His salvation!

Thank you for sharing this today. Happy TT!

Lori said...

Thank you for this powerful reminder and you put it in such vivid imagery. I was blessed by reading it. Have a wonderful day.

Debbie Petras said...

What a great way to explain this. I've had the experience of drinking sour milk and it's awful. I'm so thankful that Jesus submitted to His Father's will and took that cup for me. Great post.

Laurie Ann said...

You have such a great way with analogies, Laurie. I'll take the cup of salvation, please. And all the while, praise my Savior for taking my place...it should have been me. But He took my punishment instead. Praise be to God! So much to be thankful for.

Happy Thankful Thursday!

Blessed Among Women said...

That was a great illustration! I've never thought of the cup filled with anger and wrath. I am also thankful for Jesus' sacrifice!

Rebecca said...

What an awesome word picture. I've never comprehended it as clearly as just now with that wonderful illustration.

Bonnie said...

Thank you for your post today. Interesting thoughts you wrote out - I was just thinking this morning how hard it had to have been in that garden for Jesus to know what was ahead. The cross & the physical pain yes but...what probably hurt even deeper was knowing God was going to have to turn His face away from Jesus as Jesus took on all of our sins... the anguish that filled Him with had to have been incredible. No wonder angels had to strengthen him. I am OH so grateful for His gift!!! Thank you for sharing your post today.

Grammy said...

What an inspirational post.