What are you brimming with?

Brimming is an interesting word.

Granted, you’ve probably heard it or read it before and assumed you knew exactly what it meant, but now you wonder if you actually do? You could say that you’re not exactly “brimming with confidence” about your knowledge of the word brimming. 🙂

The dictionary says that if something is brimming, then it is “full to the point of overflowing.” Usually, we talk about brimming with positive things, such as hope or love or expectation or courage or confidence.

I hadn’t really thought much about the word until I read about some guys in the Bible who were brimming with obedience, and it turned into some of the best wine ever served at a wedding celebration.

John 2 tells the story of a soon-to-be-embarrassed family who had run out of wine at their wedding party. Jesus’ mom would have none of it and pushed Jesus into a miracle to help them. Even after Jesus objected, His mother turned to the servants and told them to do whatever He said. (Only moms can get away with this level of assertiveness, right?) There were 6 jars near that could hold as much as 180 gallons and Jesus told the servants to fill them with water. Verse 7 tells us what they did:

“…so they filled them to the brim.” (Emphasis mine)

We could say they were brimming with hope in a miracle, but I think they were brimming with obedience. They recognized something in Jesus — an authority that others didn’t have. They completely filled ordinary jars with ordinary water because they saw something extraordinary in Jesus.

Most of the time I need to see the miracle first before I can be brimming with obedience. “Wow! You just turned water into wine, so next time I’ll be sure to fill those jars to the brim!!” But these servants were already filled to the brim with obedience before the jars were filled to the brim with water.

And, boy, did it pay off! Their obedience set the stage for the miraculous. Our obedience can, too.

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