The ulimate spill from God

I loved Adam Holtz’ devotional in the May 18, 2018, edition of Our Daily Bread .

He shared a time when his brilliant solution to a clogged toilet was to flush it again. The result was the opposite of what he had hoped, and he watched helplessly as instead disappearing, the contents of the toilet spilled onto his bathroom floor. Him yelling “No! No! No! NO!” did nothing to change things.

He wrote, “I knew I had made a mistake the second I pushed the lever down. And, I stood helplessly as water overflowed.”

Nearly every parent has had times when our children misjudged how to pour milk, and we watched as instead of going into the cup, the white liquid went everywhere else.

Practically everyone has experienced opening a soda that has been dropped with results that are unexpected, yet completely predictable.

We rarely think of spills as being a good thing, however, the Bible describes one example of overflowing that is very positive.

The Apostle Paul writes about it this way, “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13, NLT)

Paul describes how God wants his peace and joy to flow out of us. The way the verse is phrased is quite instructive. Paul prays that believers will be filled with joy and peace because of our trust in God. The natural overflow of this life of faith is “confident hope” spilling onto others through God’s power.

Holtz concluded his devotional by saying, “I love that picture of being filled to the brim with joy, peace and faith because of his powerful presence in our lives. So much so, in fact, that we can’t help, but exude and express winsome confidence in our heavenly Father.”

God’s joy and peace in our lives when we are living by faith is not only noticeable when our lives are pleasant and good, but is even more obvious when our lives are difficult and challenging.

In both good times and bad. when we are filled with God’s Spirit, he is bound to slosh out of us onto others.

You might say that the ultimate spill takes place when God’s life-giving power not only changes us, but also drenches those around us with his refreshing hope.

Tim Richards grew up in Fairdealing and previously served as associate pastor of Pilgrim’s Rest Church there. He currently serves as a pastor on the staff of Concord Church in South County St. Louis.