I have been a lifetime learner. I love to read and discover new things… to broaden my horizons every opportunity I have. What I’m figuring out is that the older I get, the more I find I don’t know. And the things I already have stored away are constantly evolving and changing with the times. I have come to realize that knowledge and wisdom are wonderful things… but shouldn’t be my primary goal. The other day I was thinking about this when I ran across this story about famed martial artist, Bruce Lee.
Someone had asked Master Lee to teach him everything he knew about martial arts. Bruce took two cups and filled them both to the brim with water. He told the inquisitive man that the first cup represented everything the man already knew. The second cup was all that Bruce knew about the arts. Lee told him that in order for him to fill his cup with new knowledge… he would have to empty his cup of the old.
The man had to make room for what was important. To shed the way things were to be able to receive the way things needed to be.
It reminds me of this verse in Philippians:
“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8)
So many of us have cups that won’t hold another drop. We have appointments to keep, resources to manage, and responsibilities to uphold. We want to be filled with Christ but we just don’t have the room! So we compartmentalize our faith and squeeze God in where we can. We don’t pray as much as we should or read His word to fill ourselves with truth. Instead we try to pour Christ into an already overflowing mind hoping enough will stay in to make us feel better or get us through life.
Something has to go. What in our mind needs to be emptied so that more of Christ can come in? Gaining the peace, love, strength, joy, excitement, support, and acceptance of Christ needs to be paramount to anything else we do. Our family is important. Our health is important. Our business is important. Our mental well-being is important. But all of these pale in comparison to the importance of our relationship with Christ. Let’s empty our day of distractions and fill our lives with Him. Let’s pray, share, love, give, serve, and obey Christ. In everything we do, honor Him and live by what He teaches in His Word. And before long, the hectic life we’re living will give way to the peaceful life He desires for us to have.
We can’t receive new without emptying the old…
Today, let’s begin pouring out what doesn’t belong and asking God to fill up that new space with what’s best for us.
