Like a sour sponge

Don't you hate it when you pick up a sponge to wipe down the counter, or do some other cleaning and after you're done you realize your hands smell sour? There's hardly any way to get all of that smell off your hands! It's especially bad when you don't notice the smell until you pick up something to eat and as you bring it to your mouth -- well you get the picture...

Today at staff meeting at Coast we were reading and discussing Philippians 2. We talked a little bit about Paul's description of being "poured out as a drink offering".

It was then I remembered the first sermon I ever preached, back in high school, lo these many years ago (almost 30!). In that message, I used the illustration of the sour sponge. Goes something like this:

We are like a sponge. If we choose to simply sit and soak in all that God pours into us, we will eventually become like said sponge -- dank, smelly and basically unusable.

However, should we choose to pour ourselves out "as a drink offering", benefiting those around us with what God has been pouring into us, we will remain pliable, fresh and continually usable.

So now I have to ask myself, "What have I done today in the way of pouring out to the benefit of those in my little world?"