Recently, I have been watching the messages of Pastor Steven Furtick. Pastor Furtick preaches at the Elevation church in Charlotte North Carolina. If you have never heard him preach I highly recommend him.
Two Sunday's ago Pastor Furtick finished the last sermon in the series, How to Hug a Vampire. The series is based on the struggle of loving someone who sucks the life out of you. In his finale message Furtick had four points, but I'm only going to refer to the third point.It has really stuck in my mind. The point was- real love doesn't leak, it overflows.
During the message Furtick brings out two cups, one broken the other functional and whole. (Can you see where this is going?) He started pouring into the broken cup. It leaks. He then pours into the functional cup until it begins to overflow. Water comes out of both cups yet one remains empty.
Both cups represent Christians. However, the leaky cup represents a Christian who never spends time with God. In order for a broken cup to become functional again the cracks must be filled. Likewise, in order for a broken heart to hold love the heart must allow the Spirit to fill in the cracks and make the heart new again.
We must be careful not to leak. By spending time with God we can quickly identify the leaks in our soul and allow the Spirit to fill us. It is easy to mistake a leaking love for love that is overflowing. However, if the love is coming from a leaking heart we will quickly become exhausted. But if our love is overflowing we will remain full of the love of God and the Fruit of the Spirit.
I hope this image encourages your heart. The love we give others doesn't have to come from our own resources. We need only to allow God's love to flood our lives.
II Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
If you have time you might want to watch the message online. Here's the link! http://www.elevationchurch.org/sermons/howtohugavampire/part3
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