Overflowing
My coffee cup was filled to the brim.
At this point, it was more coffee than cup. And for a coffee lover, that’s a beautiful thing. There was just one problem.
It was so full that moving it from the coffee maker to my mouth posed a serious challenge. One little bump or miscalculation, and steaming hot caffeinated goodness would easily be spilled.
And sure enough, though I attempted with surgeon-like precision to delicately move the cup, I couldn’t help but spill some of it.
There was a moment of silence (my fellow coffee lovers understand) followed by the hunt for a paper towel. Despite the spillage, there was a good lesson from a sad event: What spills out is what you’re full of.
And on one level, we know this. You can tell what’s inside a person by what spills out. And different things spill out of different people. For some, it’s worry. For others, it’s frustration. And for some folks, it’s anger. But for the person who’s been walking with Jesus, it ought to be gratitude.
Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another with all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
There’s something beautiful about that word “dwell.” It doesn’t mean to visit occasionally or stop by when things are falling apart. It means to move in. Unpack the bags. Put up the pictures.
When the word of Christ moves in, He comes to dwell and He rearranges the furniture of your heart entirely.
Gratitude isn’t our natural instinct; complaining is. It takes no effort to see what’s wrong. Anyone can do that, and most do. Yet, when Christ comes in to dwell, gratitude is the natural result.
With Him, we stop fixating on what is wrong and start noticing what we’ve been given.
We are never told to do it alone. Paul writes about a church full of people reminding each other of what’s true. A people singing, teaching, encouraging. As the church sings about grace, you can feel your burdens lighten. Someone whispers a word of hope, and suddenly your own faith starts to stretch again. Gratitude grows best in that kind of soil!
I think that’s why God ties thankfulness so tightly to worship. Gratitude is faith as it pours out in praise. Maybe that’s what Paul’s really getting at. When Christ’s word fills you, thankfulness spills out. It’s not forced. It just becomes the natural language of your heart.
So here’s a simple thought to carry with you today: Let Christ dwell in you richly. Fill your heart to the brim with His word, His presence, and His Spirit. Let Him shape how you see your family, your work, your pain, and your blessings. Because the truth is, when Christ moves in, gratitude always spills out. And the world could always use a little more of both.