My Cup Overflows

2 Corinthians 8:7

Why do we do what we do in a Christian gathering in worship? Let’s ask “why do we take an offering.”

Think of it this way: if a cup has only a little bit of water in the bottom of it you might need a syringe or something that you can draw it out with, but if that cup has been given so much water that it can’t even hold it, that it overflows, well that overflow becomes a benefit. You don’t have to try to draw anything out anymore it’s being pressed out by the great amount of water that’s being given to it.

This is sort of how Saint Paul talks about the church the believers, of God’s family, giving thank offerings. So he says to the Corinthian Christians

But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also. (2 Corinthians 8:7)

The offering of the church isn’t God drawing a little bit of something out of the bottom of a cup, it’s actually recognizing that the church has been given to so abundantly by God, as he gives his Son to the church, his life, and his death, and his resurrection, as he gives daily gifts, daily bread gifts, to the church in great abundance now it presses those gifts out as we overflow with them.

Now God is the one who is responsible for this overflow. He doesn’t necessarily need the gifts back to himself, he actually gives an overflow so that it can be of benefit to the neighbors around us. This overflow gives glory to God for all the gracious gifts that he has given to us, more than we need, and it also serves our neighbor as God gives us more than we can use. He makes sure that it is a blessing to the neighbors around us that others too might know of the God who is gracious to us with daily blessings and above all the God who was gracious to us in giving his Son for the life of the world.

Our cup overflows. May it give glory to God and also serve our neighbor, amen.

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