The Gift and the Dirt Cup

By: Duncan Robinson

Imagine that you walk through life carrying two things in your hands. In one hand is a gift, perfectly wrapped and finished with a bow. The wrapping paper is ornate and intricate. The precision in which it has been wrapped makes it simply marvelous to look at.

In your other hand is a cup of dirt.

The gift is something you show off to your friends. The way it looks is so splendid at every opportunity you choose to show it, flaunt it and marvel in it. This is a gift that you take great pride in because this gift has been give to you by a good King.

Regular presents are exciting, but this one comes from a King! It is unique and special, given only to you. The good King expressly asked you to show off your gift to the world, and because the King is who he says he is, you are dutifully showing off the gift to the world.

In your other hand is a cup of dirt.

Now this gift is special to you, yet friends of yours also have gifts, each different shapes and sizes. Some are slightly bigger than others, and some have truly fantastic wrapping. Each one is special and unique. You enjoy sharing your gift with friends, and it is really apparent that they love to show off their own presents.

Vary rarely you notice what is in the other hand of your friends, most times they try and mask and hide it.

It is a cup of dirt.

Most people don’t realize that the King actually wants you to open the present. Most gifts that are given are designed to be opened and shared. One bold day you rip the wrapping off and inside is a glorious picture of your gift on a box. You open the box and inside is a thousand little pieces, none of which look like the image on the front.

The pieces don’t match the picture, because the gift needs work.

The King gave you a gift, but it requires time, energy and effort. The King’s gift was an excellent one, the longer you spend with it, putting the pieces together the more it starts to look like the glorious picture on the front. The gift is your talent, ability and personality. Unique and special. But like anything it isn’t fully formed, the longer you work on it, the better it gets.

Secretly though for some reason the King also gave you a dirt cup.

Whether it be 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2, Ecclesiastes 9 or Romans 6:4, there is a regular mention of death bringing life.

Dirt cups are also to be shared, the hard, challenging, difficult, rocky, brutal moments of life are held in the dirt cup. The challenge to face adversity and find victory are all held in that dirt cup. Out of death comes life. That dirt cup is the only thing that shows the adversity of your life, and the growth and victory that comes out of the difficult seasons.

In both places the Good King can be celebrated. In both places we can point to the goodness that comes from the Good King.

Stop just showing your gift, spend some time sharing your dirt cup.

Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. – Romans 6:4

Article supplied with thanks to Duncan Robinson.

About the Author: Duncan Robinson is a radio host, pastor, husband and father of two.