Friday 30th January - A Glass and a Half

DAILY BYTE

As we bring this week’s devotions to a close I’d ask you to picture in your mind half a glass of water. As you look at that glass in your imagination, I’d like to ask you this simple question: “Is the glass half full, or is it half empty?”

That’s the classic question that is commonly used to distinguish the so-called optimists from the pessimists in this world. Those who see life in terms of what they have (glass half full), and those who see life in terms of what they lack (glass half empty).

We had a friend at varsity who was a physics boff. In response to that question he used to say that the glass is neither half full nor half empty, but that its cylindrical volume was divided into two halves, one consisting of a colourless, odourless liquid, and the other a colourless, odourless gas. Thus, each half of the cylinder was in fact full, one with a liquid, the other with a gas.

As you can imagine, he never got many second dates.

The question suggests that we can see the same thing in different ways, and how we see things will influence our experience of the world.

Some years ago I was at the Wild Coast Casino. (Please don’t ask me what I was doing there…. If you must know – I was playing golf!) I somehow got into conversation with a woman who was terribly distraught. She told me that she had just lost R20 000!!! It turns out she was playing the slots, and a full row of 7’s came up. But instead of putting five coins in the machine she had only put in four, so instead of winning the grand jackpot of R25 000, she had won only R5 000. So she had WON R5 000. But that’s not what she saw. What she saw was that she could have won R25 000 if she had just put in one more coin. And so her perception was that she had just LOST R20 000. And she was distraught, bemoaning her bad luck. Which, you’ve got to admit, is pretty pathetic.

And yet sadly, that kind of thing happens all the time. People seeing the glass half empty, and how much poorer their lives are as a result.

And so it is with God. Because how we see God influences our experience of who God is. Some people see God as distant and aloof, disinterested in them and the particular circumstances of their lives. And so they experience very little warmth and intimacy in their relationship with God.

Others see God as Someone who is easily angered by our sin and is quick to use a big stick to let us know it. And so they experience a great deal of fear in their relationship with God. And any experiences of hardship or suffering are understood to be God’s punishment.

These ways of seeing God are a bit like seeing the glass half empty – missing the essence of who God really is.

There is no better way of correcting this defect of vision than going to the foot of the cross and gazing upon the crucified Christ who suffers and dies there. For at the cross God’s true nature is revealed. At the cross the full extent of God’s overflowing love can be seen. At the cross there can be no doubt that God holds nothing back in His desire for us to share the rich and abundant life that is in Him. That with God the glass is not half empty. In fact, it’s not even half full, but rather full to overflowing of love and mercy and grace.

If you struggle to believe this, then I urge you to go back to the cross, and to look intently at everything that can be seen there. For in the face of the crucified Christ, we can see the face of God, shining with a self-giving love over all the world, which He loved so much that He sent His only Son…!

PRAY AS YOU GO

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride

See from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

SCRIPTURE READING

Mark 15:39

“When the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surely, this man was the Son of God.”