Dear Theophilus:: September 2003
My Cup Overflows
by Chung Yang
It's about 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 10, on an American Airlines flight to Miami. I'm reading a small book by K.P Yohannan about native missionaries in India. An interesting thought crosses my mind. Just like non-Christians need to hear the Gospel, we Christians need to learn about the real world and the harsh situations many people live in so that we may be more effective in spreading the Word. Many believers are sheltered and caught in a bubble, and never really leave their comfort zones. We are spoiled by a consumer culture that provides temporary, unfulfilling pleasures that turn us into callous, ungrateful beings who would rather receive than give. One reason why it is so hard to be grateful is simply because we are unaware of the overwhelming, alarming facts.
Compared to a great majority of the people in the world, our cups are overflowing. If the world's population were proportionally represented by a village of 1,000 people, 400 of the villagers would live on two dollars a day. Two hundred ten would survive off of a measly one dollar a day. Yet here we find ourselves complaining that we're broke. Two hundred forty-two would lack access to drinkable water. It's hard to believe that we are ungrateful for the food at college dining. Of the 670 adults, only half would be illiterate. We're complaining about the B we got on our last midterm. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 23 million carriers of the HIV virus are just struggling to stay alive. And we're unhappy with our physique and how we're so fat or how our noses are too big! If the world is in such need of material things, how much more urgently are people in need of love? How much more do they need to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ and have someone share the unconditional love of God with them?
During my mission trips to Upala, a very small agricultural town in northern Costa Rica, I met many people and saw many sights that truly humbled me. I met a man who had a wooden leg because of an unfortunate encounter with a crocodile. He was lying on a hammock when I first walked up to him, and we asked him if he would be kind enough to give us some coconut water from the palm trees he had. We had been walking in the hot tropical sun for a couple of hours and a nice drink was much needed. With a smile he gladly got up and limped over to the high palm trees. While he pulled the coconuts down he told me how his house would flood under knee-high water several times a year because it was too close to a river. He chopped each of the 20 coconuts open with a machete and handed one to each person with a big smile. Later on a sister told me how he took care of three senior citizens by himself, and how he was actively involved in church activities, despite the difficult life he led. Materially, I felt that my cup was overflowing compared to this man's. But spiritually, my cup couldn't even compare to his, for this man's cup was a perpetual fountain, finding its source in God's loving grace and mercy.
William James once said, "The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it." God has poured blessings on each and every one of us here at Emmanuel. Blessings abound both spiritually and materially. Emmanuel has awesome leaders on its staff, which countless churches envy. As a body of Christ, we praise and serve the Lord together, and we serve and encourage one another. How can we thank God for these blessings? First, we have to realize that our cups overflow and praise God for all He has given us. We have to thank the Lord, acknowledging his goodness and admitting that all we have is from Him. No matter how hard we try we will not be able to keep all the blessings God pours down for ourselves in our little cups. The blessings must flow out unto others. We must be vessels that carry God's love to as many people as possible. A wise friend once told me that the Christian life is like the game of UNO - what you have in your hands at the end of the game counts against you. We as Christians must learn to give excellently. Whether by serving fellow brothers and sisters in Christ by lending a helping hand, taking time out to encourage somebody with kind words, or sharing the Gospel with a non-believer, giving ourselves to God and to others is our duty. God is glorified when we love and serve one another because it is proof of our longing to be like Him. We love because he first loved us. We can be a blessing to others because he first blessed us. We can give our lives to others because He first gave His life to us. My cup overflows.
