In our fast-paced world where demands seem endless and resources limited, many of us feel like we’re constantly pouring out without being replenished. We give to our families, our work, our communities—and often find ourselves running on empty. This state of perpetual depletion isn’t just unsustainable; it’s counter to the abundant life we’re promised as followers of Christ.
The Empty Cup Reality
Recently, I was speaking with a Christian leader and friend who confided, “I feel like I’m underdelivering in every area of my life.” Her words resonated deeply because they reflect a common experience. Despite our best efforts, many of us feel like we’re coming up short everywhere—as parents, professionals, friends, and even in our spiritual lives.
This feeling of inadequacy often stems from approaching life with a “cup half empty” mentality. We pour out continuously—changing endless diapers, managing difficult team dynamics, navigating friendship drama—without finding ways to be truly refilled. Our temporary solutions (a bubble bath, a round of golf, a pedicure) provide momentary relief but leave us empty again soon after.
Two Paths to Water
In Jeremiah 2:13, God presents a powerful indictment against Israel: “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
This verse brilliantly captures our human tendency. When faced with spiritual thirst, we have two choices:
- Draw from God’s endless fountain of living water
- Create our own broken systems that promise refreshment but ultimately fail us
How often do we choose the second option? We look to success, relationships, entertainment, or achievement to fill us—constructing elaborate cisterns that ultimately leak and leave us thirsty again.
The Niagara Falls Experience
Picture Niagara Falls—water rushing endlessly, pouring over with unstoppable power, creating beauty and wonder. This natural marvel offers the perfect metaphor for what Jesus promises in John 4 when he tells the Samaritan woman: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Jesus isn’t just offering a drink; he’s offering to transform us into springs—sources of living water that flow outward to a thirsty world.
This isn’t merely about personal fulfillment. The promise extends beyond our individual satisfaction to impact everyone around us. When we’re connected to the true source, we don’t just have enough for ourselves—we overflow with abundance that nourishes others.
Beyond the American Dream
When Jesus promised abundant life in John 10:10 (“I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly”), he wasn’t describing the American dream with its focus on material prosperity and comfort. The first disciples who experienced this abundant life witnessed miracles and resurrection, but they also faced persecution, imprisonment, and martyrdom.
True abundance has two dimensions:
- Here and now: A life full of purpose, adventure, and obedience to Christ that we could never have scripted for ourselves
- Eternal: Security in the life to come that gives us courage and perspective for today’s challenges
This eternal perspective explains how early Christians could boldly proclaim their faith despite severe consequences. They knew that this world was temporary and their eternal home secure.
From Single Seed to Many Seeds
How do we transition from experiencing God’s love for ourselves to becoming channels through which others experience it? Jesus gives us the answer in John 12:24: “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
The pathway to spiritual multiplication requires death—letting go of our self-sufficiency, our personal agendas, our comfortable routines. It requires falling on our faces before God in surrender and acknowledging our complete dependence on Him.
This posture of surrender isn’t about self-deprecation; it’s about recognizing that we were designed to be connected to the Source. Just as Jesus knew that without His death we wouldn’t be here today, we must recognize that without our surrender, the people in our sphere of influence may miss experiencing God’s overflow through us.
The Countercultural Reality
Jesus continues in John 12:25, “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” This statement flies in the face of our culture’s self-preservation instinct.
We naturally gravitate toward comfort—our favorite recliner, a soft blanket, a life without disruption. But Jesus invites us to something radically different: losing our lives to find them, serving where He serves, following where He leads.
This isn’t about theological expertise or religious pedigree. It’s about simple, childlike obedience. It’s about saying, “Lord, where are you going? That’s where I’m going too.”
God on the Move
We’re living in extraordinary times. Around the world and in local communities, God is moving in unprecedented ways. At one campus alone, over 45 baptisms have occurred since January 1st—four times the normal rate.
This spiritual awakening isn’t limited to established believers. Young people are encountering Jesus with fresh enthusiasm. One eighth-grade girl, after reading through Genesis, Exodus, and jumping to Revelation, declared, “I don’t want to be lukewarm anymore.”
What’s particularly striking is how quickly new believers are sharing their faith. Rather than spending years studying before evangelizing, they’re immediately inviting others into their newfound joy. Their excitement is contagious because it flows from a genuine connection to the living water Jesus provides.
Moving from Dryness to Overflow
If you find yourself in a season of spiritual dryness, hear this invitation: fall in love with Jesus again. Remember your first love. Reconnect to the source. The world—and especially new believers—needs seasoned Christians who are overflowing with living water.
This reconnection often begins with a posture of surrender—acknowledging our emptiness and crying out to God to fill us again. It’s about dying to our self-sufficiency and allowing His life to flow through us.
Your Assignment Awaits
Wherever God has placed you—in your neighborhood, workplace, school, or community—you have an assignment. You’re like a “sleeper cell” waiting to be activated for Kingdom purposes. The question is: are you connected enough to the source to fulfill that mission?
When you’re overflowing with God’s presence, serving others doesn’t deplete you—it energizes you. Whether you’re teaching a child, mentoring a colleague, serving on a city council, or simply having a spiritual conversation with a neighbor, you’re extending Christ’s love from a place of abundance rather than scarcity.
The Invitation
Today, God extends a dual invitation:
For those who have never connected to Jesus, today can be the day you exchange your broken cisterns for His fountain of living water. The journey begins with acknowledging your thirst and turning to the only One who can truly satisfy it.
For those who have walked with Him but find yourselves dry and weary, today can be a day of reconnection. Fall before Him. Seek His face again. Allow Him to fill you until you overflow.
The promise remains: God provides life in abundance so that we can overflow with service to others. Not from our own limited resources, but from His inexhaustible supply.
Will you accept the invitation to overflow?
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