What’s your favorite drink?
I personally like water. I order it EVERY SINGLE TIME we eat at a restaurant (saves money) and usually have a tumbler with me most of the time. But I also REALLY like flavored water, recovery type drinks, a chai tea or even a nitro cold brew coffee with Fairlife caramel protein milk.
At the heart of EVERY one of those drinks is WATER!
Everyone knows we NEED water. Our bodies are comprised of something like 70% water. Hard to believe that with all our density, we’ve got that much liquid inside.
As the days get warmer the liquid intake goes WAYYY up. At RWOL, we’ll go from finishing a 5-gallon jug once a week to going through 5 gallons every 1-2 days. We’re thirsty creatures and NEED water to survive.
No matter what liquid you consume, water is the most important drink.
Leading up to Easter and looking throughout scripture, we see a lot of discussion, analogy, and reference to thirst, drinks, cups, and living water in the spiritual realm.
Paul talks about the “spiritual drink” that the Israelites drank in the desert (1 Corinthians 10:4).
King David wrote a poem about being “parched” and “thirsty” (Psalms 63:1).
The prophet Isaiah spoke of both a “cup of wrath” and an unbelievable opportunity for “all who are thirsty” (Isaiah 51:17; 55:1).
And Jesus made reference to drinks in all sorts of ways throughout his ministerial career.
One story in particular in the gospels of Luke and Matthew recalls a particular prayer conversation between Jesus and God. Jesus knows what’s coming: isolation, beating, pain, suffering, and death on a cross. And as he prays, he tells his Daddy that he doesn’t want to do it and asks very specifically, if there is any other way for God to “take this cup of suffering away from me” (Luke 22:42/Matt 26:39).
As Jesus is sweating (like Chris Matthews in warmup) while he prays, he cries out to God because he doesn’t want to go through with it. His flesh is putting up a fight. The pain of the suffering to come is more than he really wants to endure.
And yet, we know, that God didn’t provide another way. The only way for the suffering to end was for Jesus to DRINK THAT CUP!
He doesn’t finish the prayer with just ‘take this away’. He concludes with this mighty line, “…but I want YOUR will to be done, NOT mine!” (Matt 26:39). And so, Jesus power chugs the medicine that restores wholeness of life for EVERYONE! His cup of suffering, dying on the cross, is finished in a giant gulp.
Here’s what I think we need to know about Jesus and drinking. It’s not about WHAT you drink that his life teaches us but more about EMPTYING your cup! Whether your cup is half full or half empty, there’s still more to drink. If our life is to have great significance beyond just the temporal, then we must endure suffering and difficulty as much as it comes.
Pray that they be taken away, sure, absolutely! But conclude with a willing spirit that says, “But I’ll drink it knowing this life is temporary and eternity will be better than 2 pina coladas!”
So, drink up and may you find NEW LIFE at the bottom of your bitter cup!
*Disclaimer – Please know that I am in NO WAY saying that God is CAUSING ALL the SUFFERING in the world and there is a DIVINE reason for ALL the pain!!! I don’t believe that at all. This is also not to cheapen the evil in the world and simply give a “suck it up and get over it” kind of campaign. But I think that if we can change the way we process suffering and elevate our minds to live in the eternal, we’ll start seeing new life more regularly!
#BottomsUp
#StayThirstyMyFriends
#AshesToAshes
#RestoringWholenessOfLife
Brett
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