Overflowing

Oh, the sermon yesterday was wonderful. At the moment, I can't recall which things actually came out of Pastor's mouth, and which things were just barely touched on but were especially picturesque for me because of some recent conversations.

Pastor was talking about how the person who is joined to Christ is filled with His love and mercy and grace, and that love cannot help but overflow to the people around us.

Some Christians worry that we need to spend more time telling people how to be good. But I'm still picturing that cup. If a person isn't constantly being filled up with Jesus and His forgiveness, then the forgiveness won't just naturally spill out all over to the place to other people. Then, maybe, good works do become a chore. Then, maybe, there needs to be some concentration and effort expended on trying to be good. But when a person's self-righteousness is smashed, and the absolution is bestowed frequently and massively and abundantly, it can do nothing but spill out. And the more the person's "cup" is filled up with forgiveness, the more will spill out in service to the neighbor.

And so it is the Gospel, not the Law, which makes us good.