Zaxby's Lesson

"…my cup overflows.”

(Psalm 23:5)

I was out to eat with one of my sons, at one of our local restaurants, Zaxby’s, when we are at the counter and my son orders, he orders a large "big gulp size" drink…my first thought is, “Hey, we are eating here”, I mean, why get a large cup that you will pay extra for when you can have all you want to drink from the drink fountain. So I said, give him a regular size cup. Found out that he didn’t want to have to get up to refill his cup…lazy teens…LOL.

Why do we think that we have to go and get a bigger cup to catch all the over flow of blessings that God may send our way. In Luke we are told of a story where a man is blessed, and instead of taking the overflow and finding someone to bless he says, “I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.” God said that he was foolish. We don’t need to build more to hold more; we need to take the overflow and us it to minister, to bless those who God places on our hearts. So take the cup enjoy the blessings it's filled with, and spread the excess. Imagine a world where the body of Christ reached out to the poor and needy, the sick and the homeless, the widow and the orphan. Imagine what would happen if we would have been doing it instead of the government. Instead of people being enslaved by the government, they could have been freed by the King of kings. Instead of people being dependant on Uncle Sam, they would have been independent in Jesus.

Not saying that I’ve always done my part…can’t tell you the number of times I’ve sped up to make the light at the bottom of the off ramp to avoid the guy with the cardboard sign or acted like I was answering my phone when the bell ringer with the kettle spoke to me as I passed by. So don’t hear me judging, heck, I’ve got a tree in my eye. But I believe we could really change lives if we just took the time to look at what we have and look for those who have not, to get into our mind that if we wear the same shirt within a week…we won’t be put to death. That we don’t really need 10 pairs of brown shoes and that I don’t have to have that latest smart phone when I just got one a year ago without the knowledge that the latest was just around the corner.

Look, it’s not about socialism, where the government takes and redistributes, it’s what you do with what God blesses you with…don’t have money or “the finer things”? You still have time, mercy and love…you still have the knowledge of what Christ did for you on the cross…give it. Even if you have “The finer things”, you are still going to need time, mercy and love to give the way Jesus would. It’s not about a government program but a heart filled with the love of Christ Jesus that is willing to stop thinking about themselves & start thinking about the Kingdom.

Vern