LACED WITH GRACE...half full or half empty?

Today I shared the following devotion with the readers of LACED WITH GRACE, hope you find your cup full to the brim today...

***

It is the age old question… "Is the glass half full or half empty?”

What’s the answer? Really, it is all just your perspective. I guess I would have to ask, “Do you like a full cup or a half empty one? Depending upon what is inside the cup, your preference may change.

The Bible refers to having fullness to show the depth of joy we as Believers can experience. However many of us settle for the half full cup versus the full cup.

When I think of how full my spiritual cup needs to be I can’t help think about the Folgers coffee commercial… “Good to the last drop.” Reminds me of the little boy I once had in my preschool class. During snack time, I was passing out a couple of crackers for each student to have. After two times around the table with offering each one 2 crackers, little Paul got down from his chair and went over to the play area, he returned with a plastic glass from the play kitchen area. The next time I went around the table with another cracker, Paul held up his playtime glass and said, “fill it up!”

If only we, as Christians, could have that mentality of little Paul. Holding up our spiritual glass,  asking not to have it emptied but to fill it up, to the brim. Joy, as Jesus explains in Matthew, is not to be viewed as “half empty” but may it be “full”. And not just full, but “good to the last drop!”

Matthew 15:9-11 (KJV), “As the Father hath loved me, so I have loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”

Many of us would gladly settle for half a cup, but Jesus urges us to desire that full cup of joy. He wants us to love Him wholeheartedly! He wants us to trust Him enough to obey Him.

When we choose to disobey Him, we are choosing half a cup of joy because our love is not wholehearted. We’re holding back, unsure of whether or not He will fulfill His promises. Rather than trusting in His Word, we choose our own ways, only to find out that we were wrong.

Keeping our cup full will come from obedience. As we learn to obey Him, trust Him and even test Him, our cup will remain full, never running dry.

How is your cup of joy looking today? Is it half full or half empty? I trust you will strive to keep it full to the top, overflowing with His love, His joy and His peace. For It is good to the last drop.