Overflowing to the Brim

When I first got my Keurig coffee machine, I had to play around with it before I figured out which size cup to use for each setting. One of the first times I used it, I didn’t have a large enough cup for the amount of coffee trickling out. When the coffee oozed out and spilled over the brim of my cup, I quickly grabbed an empty cup to pour the overflow of coffee into it.

As I was cleaning up the spilled coffee, I learned two things: Number one of course was to use an appropriate sized cup for the large cup setting!

Lesson number two was much more profound as I was reminded of a scripture in Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the holy spirit.”

After watching my first cup of coffee overflow, it hit me that the only way to overflow with the power of the holy spirit is to BE STILL. If I’d moved the cup before it spilled over, it wouldn’t overflow. And just like that cup, WE need to sit still long enough to hear God speaking truth and hope into our weary hearts.

So what exactly is overflowing out of our hearts? It’s hope! The hope of what Jesus has done for us. The hope of eternity. The hope of the resurrection power living in us every day!

And when we get filled up so much with that hope, it is going to spill over. Hopefully we aren’t just standing still when this happens. Hopefully we will spill out into those around us.

Those around us who are hurting.
Those around us who are empty.
Those around us who need the hope of Jesus.

Kristin Sauder, a dear friend of mine who recently went to Heaven, once said to us, “Full things are waiting to be emptied. And empty things are waiting to be filled!”

So where are you right now in this season of life? Is the brim of your heart almost full? If so, who are you pouring into? Who around you needs to be filled with hope?

Or maybe you feel empty. If that is the case, I encourage you to take time to sit still before God and allow Him to fill you up. Allow Him to show you the hope you are looking for in your current challenge. And then you need to surround yourself with other believers who are FULL! Because if they are FULL, then you are going to get some of that hope overflowing. And it will spill right into the empty places in your heart.

So the next time you grab a cup of coffee, let it be a reminder to you that God longs to fill our hearts to overflowing. And He wants us to spill over into the people He’s placed around us.

Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the holy spirit.”