I was listening to a sermon on the radio taught by Ravi Zacharias entitled Faith Under Fire: Jesus among other gods. If you're slow like me, Ravi is a good teacher to listen to because due to English being his second language, he is very careful in the way that he annunciates. Anyway, I digress. The purpose of this sermon is to illustrate why Jesus, among other gods, is the truth, the way and the life for him through Ravi's testimony.
I haven't listened to the entire message because I was fairly astounded by a small portion where he uses an old proverb from India to illustrate his mother's character in the face of a serious family incident. The proverb goes like this, "Whatever you are overflowing with will spill out when you're bumped." He goes on to say this proverb "has in mind a village woman carrying a pot or urn filled to the brim with milk or water or some other substance. A young careless lad runs across her path causing her to stop short and the contents that's filled to the brim spills out."
He further explains, "It is meant to convey what your real character is about. Whoever you are in your character, that characteristic will spill out when somebody annoys you, puts pressure on you or cuts into your path."
What are YOU overflowing with? When a co-worker frustrates me does he/she see Jesus? or do they see somebody they just don't want to bother with next time. When the pressure of this life is mounting and my burden is heavy, does fear begin pouring out of me? When my wife accidentally hurts my feelings (we men like to call that disrespects me) in front of people, does insecurity wash over the sides like a Tsunami?
Men, when I look in the mirror of my life, I am ashamed to confess that I have failed at the above scenarios (any many others) more than once.
What should I be overflowing with..."love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Ah yes, the Fruit of the Spirit. The Apostle Paul teaches us about Love in 1 Corinthians 13 and ends his portrait of Love with "Faith, Hope and Love, but the greatest of these is Love."
Love, my brothers, is what we SHOULD be overflowing with. Praise God that He Loves us enough to continue His sanctification of us every single day.
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