The Good Cup
I was searching for a new morning worship playlist and I came across one called “The Good Cup.” What an interesting way to turn a simple topic like an ordinary cup of Joe into something spiritually beautiful and completely relatable.
Growing up, the idea of religion was absolutely mind-boggling. I was raised in an atheist household so the concept of a higher power was extremely abstract and to be honest, kind of weird. Life was just that — Something that started one day and would finish sometime later on. That was it. I was taught that we should do our best to “be good people,” hold the door open for strangers, pay it forward to our first responders, things like that. Why? Because it was the “right” thing to do. But what determines right and wrong?
This was a question that I pondered for many years. I have had people in my life of all different religions. Catholics, all sorts of denominations of Christianity, Mormons, Jews, Muslims, and of course atheists. Generically speaking, we all had the same idea of what “doing good” meant. We didn’t make a habit of stealing or lying or disrespecting our parents. We did our homework, tried hard in our extracurriculars, and could all agree that committing crimes was probably a bad idea. But where did we get this moral law from? Who decides what’s good?
As I have began my walk in faith with Jesus, I have been openly curious about all things Biblical. Becoming a believer in Christ doesn’t mean your questions have all been answered. In fact, I would argue I have more questions now then I did as an atheist. The cool part about the Bible is that all of your questions can be answered by opening up the pages. Even today’s question of morality and what is deemed “good” and “right.”
Romans 1:19 (ESV) says “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.”
Okay, so what does that mean? Biblical scholars have done a really great job at breaking down what the Bible actually means. The translation of Hebrew text combined with the context of the time gives us a pretty accurate summation of what the Apostle Paul (The author, through God’s guidance, of Romans) was getting at here.
Romans kicks off with this declaration that we all inherently know God exists. Even if the gospel hasn’t been properly shared with us or we have followed a different religion our whole lives, we instinctively understand God because he created us. Our ethical code comes from God. We can decipher what is right and wrong by instinct. Not because monkeys passed that trait down over millions of years, but because God made us capable.
To deny the existence of God is to go against our intuition. To disobey Him is to run away from all things joyful and loving. But no matter how far you stray from the path He has written for you, He’s still right there. In the same place He was when you were sitting in the front row at Sunday Service and when you were out too late partying falling into the same sinful patterns you tried so hard to escape time and time again.
Psalms 139:13 (ESV) famously says “You formed my inmost being; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” Isn’t that beautiful? God has a purpose for you. He wants you to know Him just as well as He knew you before He created you.
For someone reading this who doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus. Thats okay. I sure as heck took the longest route possible to get there. And there’s a good chance you won’t start believing overnight. I pray God gives you the capacity to follow Him that quickly, but if you’re anything like me you will have a lot of questions first.
My biggest piece of advice is to ask your questions but don’t get to hung up on them. The answers will come if you have faith. That’s the piece atheists struggle with the most. I grew up with a disconnect from any kind of faith. It’s a really hard trust exercise at first — but you’ll get the hang of it. Building a community of strong believers to walk with you is also such a game changer.
Once you’ve been touched by the Spirit there really isn’t a way to explain His power on your life. It’s like the perfect cup of Joe. Some would call it, “The Good Cup.”
