Sometimes we become thirsty but the drink that we end up getting from God is not the drink we thought we would get. What’s in your cup? Only God knows. God has prepared a drink for you with a cup prepared especially just for you. That cup that has been prepared for you has everything to do with what you will suffer for in this life for Christ to rule and reign in his kingdom both now and in eternity.
One of the most fascinating stories in the bible illustrates this story from a request for both her two sons.
Think about this for a moment. Her two sons weren’t even chosen disciples. However, Jesus didn’t rebuke her for asking but instead allows her question and his answers to be put in the bible so we can learn several things.
Lets read the scriptures first from Matthew 20: 20-23
20Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
21“What is it you want?” he asked.
She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
22“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink THE cup I am going to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
23Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
1. Jesus lets them know that they don’t understand the magnitude of their request. Sometimes we ask God for things but don’t really understand what it will cost us to get it.
2. Jesus wants us all to know that our cup of suffering now has everything to do with our eternal positioning in the kingdom of God.
3. Jesus ask her could they drink THE cup but then goes on to let them know that they would indeed drink FROM that cup.
4. And lastly, he lets them know that our heavenly father has the final say in the positioning in the kingdom of heaven.
God wants us to settle in our hearts that we will suffer to reign with him in this earth and in eternity, if we are willing to drink from that same cup. Just like Christ asked in the garden of Gethsemane for that cup to pass from him, he totally understands the pain and suffering of the trials and tribulation, peril and persecution knowing that he drank THE entire cup. We need to resolve in our hearts that because he overcame all these things that we too can overcome as well. We cant reign if we aren’t willing to suffer for Christ. We must drink the whole cup that he has prepared for each of us.
