“Will You Drink From This Cup?” Program - Reflections
From Henri Nouwen, Can You Drink This Cup?
Somewhat related, I felt God speak to me yesterday –
Eccl. 11:1, “Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days.”
The Geneva study bible notes about this verse, “be liberal to the poor, and though it seems to be as a thing ventured on the sea, yet it will bring you profit.”
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary notes about this verse that “Every man must labour to be a blessing to that place where the providence of God casts him. Wherever we are, we may find good work to do, if we have but hearts to do it… Winds and clouds of tribulation are, in God's hands, designed to try us. God's work shall agree with his word, whether we see it or not. And we may well trust God to provide for us, without our anxious, disquieting cares. Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season, in God's time, you shall reap, Ga 6:9.”
In the past, I have saw being liberal with the poor as giving my funds. As doing this has been profitable, I also began to see this as giving of my time. And as I have been blessed in giving of my time, I have felt God speaking to me about giving of myself – the Word of God in my life and my story (who I am). If I am willing to cast the bread of my life upon the waters, I will find greater life over time.
Casting my bread also speaks of meeting people’s deepest needs. It is giving of my life as food or provision to others. It is the willingness to give of myself and be with people in their places of need that can really make a difference in their life, much more so than just giving them my money. Often, I look to bless people on my terms, what I think might bless them without really making any true sacrifice. I often don’t understand their needs and often don’t even see their needs. I think part of the reason I don’t see or understand their needs is because I have been unwilling to “cast my bread on the waters,” giving of myself, being open, vulnerable and available to others. I hide behind the mask of what I want others to see and believe about me.
What all people need at a much deeper level than money, food and clothes is love. And as long as I am hiding behind a mask of who I am, I cannot really love others or let them love me. In Matthew 7:12 Jesus says, "Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." And in Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus says that what fullfills "the whole Law and the Prophets" is love.
1 Cor. 13:3-8 (Amplified),
“It is so easy for us to live truncated lives because hard things that have happened in our past, which we prefer not to remember… Shame and guilt make us hide part of ourselves and thus make us live half lives. We truly need each other to claim all of our lives and to live them to the fullest. We need each other to move beyond our guilt and shame and to become grateful, not just for our successes and accomplishments but also for our failures and shortcomings. We need to be able to let our tears flow freely, tears of sorrow as well as joy, tears that are as rain on dry ground. As we thus lift our lives for each other, we can truly say: “To life,” because all we have now becomes the fertile soil for the future.”I struggle with living an integrated life with my past. While I am incredibly grateful for the power of God in my life and what He has done, I often like to put my past behind me and forget about it. I want to live my life based totally on who I am now. In doing this, I am living a truncated life and missing out on claiming life to the fullest. I felt God spoke that I needed to learn to integrate my past into my life without hiding it in shame.
Somewhat related, I felt God speak to me yesterday –
Eccl. 11:1, “Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days.”
The Geneva study bible notes about this verse, “be liberal to the poor, and though it seems to be as a thing ventured on the sea, yet it will bring you profit.”
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary notes about this verse that “Every man must labour to be a blessing to that place where the providence of God casts him. Wherever we are, we may find good work to do, if we have but hearts to do it… Winds and clouds of tribulation are, in God's hands, designed to try us. God's work shall agree with his word, whether we see it or not. And we may well trust God to provide for us, without our anxious, disquieting cares. Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season, in God's time, you shall reap, Ga 6:9.”
In the past, I have saw being liberal with the poor as giving my funds. As doing this has been profitable, I also began to see this as giving of my time. And as I have been blessed in giving of my time, I have felt God speaking to me about giving of myself – the Word of God in my life and my story (who I am). If I am willing to cast the bread of my life upon the waters, I will find greater life over time.
Casting my bread also speaks of meeting people’s deepest needs. It is giving of my life as food or provision to others. It is the willingness to give of myself and be with people in their places of need that can really make a difference in their life, much more so than just giving them my money. Often, I look to bless people on my terms, what I think might bless them without really making any true sacrifice. I often don’t understand their needs and often don’t even see their needs. I think part of the reason I don’t see or understand their needs is because I have been unwilling to “cast my bread on the waters,” giving of myself, being open, vulnerable and available to others. I hide behind the mask of what I want others to see and believe about me.
What all people need at a much deeper level than money, food and clothes is love. And as long as I am hiding behind a mask of who I am, I cannot really love others or let them love me. In Matthew 7:12 Jesus says, "Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." And in Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus says that what fullfills "the whole Law and the Prophets" is love.
1 Cor. 13:3-8 (Amplified),
"Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God's love in me), I gain nothing.
Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly.
Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]."
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