Brimful

The pint glass I am staring at now, as I type this, is half full,…or is it half empty? This is the proverbial debate people have reflective of their optimism or pessimism. The way to end the debate if speaking of a literal glass is to fill it to the brim, then we all agree: the glass is full.

Christians can consider this matter of faith: how full might we be with gifts of the Holy Spirit? You can open your Bible and read from chapter twelve of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, as we will in church on Sunday, about this very matter. Paul writes:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, [to others differing, other gifts are given: healing, discernment, prophecy, etc.] All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. (1 Corinthians 12:3)

The word that describes some of The New Testament sense of life in Christ is “abundance”. The church described by Paul is a living body, full of the Holy Spirit. Each member is fully gifted in some way, and the result is a Spirit-filled church. We often quote Jesus from John 10:10, “I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly.”

Look also to the image of those huge stone jars of wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11). Life in Jesus Christ is the abundant life. The water-filled the six, twenty-plus gallon, stone-jars, and Jesus turned it to fine wine. There’s nothing stingy about God, nothing scarce about life in the Spirit, nothing spartan about the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Think of yourself as a chalice on the great banquet table that God sets for the world. Think of the line from the Twenty-third Psalm: “My cup is running over.” My dear friend, you are neither half-full nor half-empty. The Spirit is poured out, and you are brimful.