What is in my Cup?

“Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord? ​or who may stand in his holy place? He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, ​who desires not what is vain.” Psalm 24:3-4

I think all of us want a clean heart, all of us want to be that good person who is looked up to. We want to be wise, kind, generous and forgiving. I don’t think anyone sets out to be the bitter person who holds grudges, and spits out acid and tells lies, and thinks nothing of cheating other people. It’s just that people have a tendency to protect themselves, put on armor, and when they make a mistake, they prefer to stay on that path, rather than say, “I made a mistake, I am sorry, please forgive me.” 

I read this analogy somewhere. If you are cradling a cup of coffee and someone bumps you, you will spill the coffee on your clothes, the floor, everywhere. Ask yourself, why did you spill the coffee? 

The usual answer you would give is that someone bumped into you. But that’s a wrong answer in this analogy. The correct answer is you spilled the coffee because there was coffee in your cup. If you had a Caramel Frappuccino, you would have the Caramel Frap all over your shirt. “Whatever is inside the cup, will spill out.” 

Life is like that. We always get shaken up one way or another. We can’t escape it. And whatever is inside us, will come out. We can have a sort of shell, or image, but once we are jostled by circumstance, the truth will invariably come out. 

So let us ask ourselves, “What’s in my cup?” When life gets tough, what is going to spill out? Can we ascend the mountain of the Lord because we try to live our life with courage, humility, peace, gratefulness, and love? 

Or do we desire what is vain, what is of the world, do we see life with bitterness and envy? 

It is not too late to ask the Lord to fill us with His Holy Spirit and ask for a renewal, a restoration and revitalization. God is only too willing to open His arms wide in welcome!