As believers, Jesus offers us far more than we ever take advantage of. In the world right now there are billions of people who believe in Jesus Christ and have accepted Him as their Lord and Savior and been forgiven of their sins. At the end of their earthly lives they will live on eternally with Jesus. None of those billions, including myself, will have earned it or deserve it. What majesty. What pure love. What mind-boggling grace. Yet so many stop just after crossing the starting line and don’t explore any further into the relationship Jesus offers. Oh, my friends, there is more Jesus than we could ever imagine! He has put a cup of life into each of our hands. He isn’t holding it or deciding for us when to drink. We hold it. What will we do with that kind of love, with that kind of hope, with that kind of responsibility?

Some will choose to put their cups down so their hands are free to pick up other things. Some will find a special place of honor in their homes where they can place their cup on display (perhaps in an acrylic box for safety so not a drop of life is spilled) but will inevitably let it blend in with all the other pieces and parts of life and forget about the value. Some will put the cup in a closet or desk drawer, only to be brought out when illness or panic or desperation appears. Some may even trade away their cup for fame or fortune or love. Yet there will be those few wildly audacious souls who choose to drink the cup. The rest of this post is for you, dear ones.

To think that Jesus would cherish us that much that He would take His cup and place it lovingly into our hands makes me swoon! We think about trusting Him but to even imagine that He would trust us to make wise choices about what to do with the cup of life is wild, crazy love. He trusts me? He honors me? It’s almost too much to contain in my little mind and little heart. So brave ones, what are we going to do about it?

We could take little sips occasionally so that we don’t ever run out. No, fear and scarcity mentality don’t fit with the life Jesus offers. We could just gulp it all down so that no one gets more than us. No, competition and comparison don’t fit with the life Jesus offers. When we gulp we don’t taste any of the richness and depth that the drink offers.

The answer then is to grasp that cup, take it with us wherever we go, lift it high in celebration, and drink deeply of Him. The more we drink the deeper the cup becomes and the richer the flavors grow. It saddens me greatly to see so many hungering and thirsting and just barely hanging on when everything we could ever need or want can be found in Him. His gifts are never meager or stingy. Where did we ever get that idea?? In John 10:10, Jesus Himself says, ” The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly“.

If Jesus is your Lord and Savior, He has placed a cup of life in your hands. His life. My hands and your hands were made to hold that cup. My lips and your lips were made to drink Him in and be filled with all the fruit of the Spirit that we can hold. Lift the cup my friends and drink richly…..to the dregs.

Glory!