Consider A Stream

John 7:38 says, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

You are walking through a dense alpine forest when you suddenly come to a stream.

 

Think about that stream. 

The source is high in the mountain.  The water it carries is not its own.  The stream keeps very little of the water passing through.  It has received the water from above and generously passes the water to points below. 

The stream exerts very little effort as the water rushes by.  It sits and is motionless and yet it is rushing by. 

When you were back in the forest and long before you saw the stream you heard it.  You heard the rushing, gurgling, happy, splashing water.  Now, as you stand on its banks, the stream fills your ears and eyes.  You feel the cool spray.  You look closer and you notice that there is life in the stream-–fish swim, crayfish crawl, and plants sway. 

The stream seems endless.  You look up the mountain, but can not see its beginning.  You look down the mountain, but can not see its end.  The water is endless.

You can be God’s stream.  You can increase the flow.

The Origin of Life

Col 1:16  For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all

things were created by him and for him. 17  He is before all things, and in

him all things hold together.

There is a beautiful hibiscus bush just outside my very dirty office window. 

I love that bush.  It gives me something pretty to look at out my window, and I enjoy watching the humming birds and chickadees that visit for nectar and bugs.  Yesterday, I was writing Sunday’s sermon and praying over it as I went when the Lord took my thinking somewhere unexpected.

Before I go any further, isn’t that just like God?  I’ve got an agenda, my sermon, but He’s got something more immediate in mind.  And, isn’t that the adventure of relationship with Jesus Christ and life in His Spirit?  You never know where He’ll lead you!  That’s exciting!!!

I was meditating on the never-changing nature of God and the ever-new exploration of the person of God when He gave me an open vision of my hibiscus bush.  In the vision, I rapidly saw the bush grow from the small thing that was planted many years ago to the large bush that it is today.  Suddenly, I understood the changes that the plant went through, and the Lord gave me a revelation that He is the source of life not only for my hibiscus, but for all living things.  

Jesus Christ is the origin of life, the source of life, and the fountain of living.  Knowing Christ is not only what you now know, but more than you now know.

The closer you get to Jesus, and the more you act on your relationship with Jesus, the more your life and living will grow to look like Jesus.