Anyone who believes in Jesus will have rivers of living water flowing from him/her. Cool.
Except there are some who say they believe in Jesus and I don’t see anything like living water coming from them.
Let’s think about what a river looks like. It’s not just water flowing by. That water does something. The area around that river has life. The water feeds that life. It causes everything it comes in contact with to get wet, then lift up, glow, and grow.
It would seem to me that if we who are believers have this living water flowing from our core, from who we are, then everyone we come in contact with will be lifted up to glow and grow. This living water actually flows from the Holy Spirit living in us, not from ourselves. We can’t conjure it up. No faking it. No need to fake it if we’re truly followers of the King of kings.
There’s lots of talk these days about toxic people. Sadly, some of those declare themselves Christians. A person who trusts in and relies on Jesus won’t be one of them. The water that flows from the Spirit of God through our soul is living, and cannot, will not be toxic. (Note: A person who disagrees with you or doesn’t just let you have your way without question is not toxic, they are likely a fabulous friend who loves you too much to let you walk astray.)
If we know one of these people who claim to know the Lord, but whose water brings death of hope, destruction of life, and devastation of dreams, as a spiritual sibling it’s incumbent upon us to say something (1 Corinthians 5:9-13).
If WE are that person whose surroundings are dead because we’ve touched them, we need to confess and repent. We need to enter a salvation relationship with the Lord. Our tongues must be giving life, our actions must reveal the Lord.
Listen, I have a sarcastic, witty side, but as I’ve matured, I have learned to let my friends and family hear the sarcasm without the bite. Often I get to use it to deliver a truth with less sting. Still, I have to be careful to use that wisely or it becomes a tool of criticism and gets really ugly and hurtful. That’s where I don’t want to go.
It’s high time that we who are called by His name act like it.
I’m talking to me here, too. It’s time that we choose Christ above all, that we live like we believe Him, and that we let those living waters flow from us, nurturing those around us with God’s love so that if they know Him they are encouraged and if they don’t, they are left thirsting for Him. It’s also time for those who are mature to lovingly confront those who say they are His but whose lives reveal differently and show them that their water is stagnant. The time is urgent to love people to a deeper, fuller relationship with Christ.
Coffee, Bible, Journal.
