Cup of Need

I used to go through life looking for the next "mountain top" experience, and while mountains have a place, I've learned something different. Grace flows downhill. As Roy Hession states in his book "We Would See Jesus":

"Grace permits us to come (nay, demands that we come) as empty sinners to be blessed: empty of right feelings, good character and satisfactory record, with nothing to commend ourselves but our deep need, fully and frankly acknowledged. Then grace, being what it is, is drawn by that need to satisfy it, just as water is drawn to depth (by gravity) that it might fill it."

So I have begun to picture myself as a cup of need. The more I become aware that I am sinful and needy to the core, the easier this becomes. When I am NOT walking by faith and trusting God to meet my needs and fill me, I fill up my "need cup" with idols that temporarily satisfy me... I seek selfish comfort pleasures, put my focus on ME and not others. The list goes on (and on, and on, and on!) But, when I admit my need and and confess the sins that would tend to block the flow of God's grace meeting my need in HIS way, grace does what it naturally seeks to do, and fills me.

Hession goes on to say (after also revealing more insights that I did not quote):

"The struggle, of course, is to believe it and to be willing to be but empty sinners to the end of our days, that grace may continue to match our needs."

So be the cup! Admit my need. I can't do it on my own and only distance myself from the Father when I try to do it my way. I will rest in the knowledge that sinner though I am, His grace is sufficient (abundantly so!) for me.