What Kind of Water are You Drinking?

Picture courtesy of Zo Guthrie

     For several years now, we have had a serious decline in our rainfall producing drought conditions here in Florida.  Our lakes are lower than normal, and water restrictions have been in place for a number of years.  Water is certainly a valuable commodity which we cannot live without.  However, some water is definitely better tasting than other water.
     When I was growing up, I used to visit my Great Aunt Mickey and Great Uncle Paul Eitzman at their farm near Holgate, Ohio.  We would spend a day visiting and having fun on their farm.  Unfortunately, they had terrible water!  Now they didn't think it was bad but like many farm families, they had sulphur water.  It smelled like rotten eggs!  They even drank it, and when I think about that, it turns my stomach.
I would often hold my nose if I needed water so I could quickly get it down.  They had another faucet in their home where they had treated water which was better, but I much preferred the water we had at home.
     God's people didn't drink the best water either during the time of Jeremiah the Prophet.  In Jeremiah 2:9-13, we read:  "Therefore I will yet bring charges against you,' says the Lord,' and against your children's children I will bring charges.  For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and see; Send to Kedar and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing.  Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods?  But My people have changed their Glory for what does not profit.  Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; Be very desolate,' says the Lord.  'For My people have committed two evils.  They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns - broken cisterns that can hold no water.'"

Fresh spring water

     What God spoke through Jeremiah was true.  The children of Israel did not desire God the Father who had delivered them.  Instead, they preferred other gods.  They gave up their joy, their glory, their true lives for things that meant nothing in the end.  They exchanged the all powerful ever living Fountain of Life for sulphur water!  That is how I see this passage.
     Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Living Water and He asks us to drink deeply of him.  When we do, it is life and health to our bones.  When we drink of this world, we are drinking sulphur water and it stinks.  The result is that we stink too.
     How often are we like those people in Jeremiah's day?  Do we get tied up with the temptations, desires, and pursuits of this life to the exclusion of God?  I think we all do at one time or another.  We can tell ourselves all day long that sulphur water smells and tastes good, but it doesn't compare to clear, pure spring water.  My aunt and uncle got used to sulphur water so they didn't think much about it.  Likewise, we can get so used to our worldly viewpoints on power, money, and self that we cannot see where we have departed the path that God has laid out for us.  That's where the Holy Spirit comes in.  He is able to tell us that our lifestyle stinks just the way sulphur water does.  He is able to refresh us and open our eyes to the Living Water.
     Beginning today, let us ask God to open our eyes and give us a thirst for His Living Water that we may live to His glory and purpose.  As we seek Him, the Holy Spirit will reveal areas of our life where we have been willing to settle for sulphur water.  I would rather bathe in His Living Water of the Word than to be drenched in the smell of this world.  Selah!
   

I welcome your insights and comments.  Your encouragement is a blessing to me and others.

A Cactus Flower Faith

     On our walk today, we saw the most beautiful sight.  A mature cactus plant had large white flowers with many more ready to open.  They only bloom once a year, but they are magnificent to behold.  I thought to myself that this seemed to be an oxymoron of nature.  Here is a plant with large needles that hurt if you come in contact with it; however, it produces the most beautiful flowers.  Then, I thought how life is not unlike a cactus plant.  We have our thorns that inflict great pain physically, spiritually and/or mentally, but when placed in God's hands, these painful circumstances can blossom into beauty as we are formed more into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
     If anyone was acquainted with the thorns that life could bring, it was the Apostle Paul.  In his second letter to the church at Corinth (chapter 11:24-30) he writes:  "Five times I received at the hands of the Jews forty lashes less one.  Three times I was beaten with rods.  Once I was stoned.  Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.  And apart form other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.  Who is weak, and I am not weak?  Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?  If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness."

     As Paul goes on to describe his current thorn in flesh beyond all these other trials, he tells the believers that when he is weak, the power of Christ rests upon him.  He concludes in chapter 12 verse 10:  " For the sake of Christ, then, 'I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong'".  What a powerful testimony from someone who has been through the cactus patch and is now blooming as a result of Christ's power in him.  Not many of us would welcome all the trials that Paul endured, but his life produced a lasting fragrance in the service of His Lord.
     God's purpose in having us face hardships is not always clear.  However, we know "that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).  The key two words in that verse are "His purpose".  And what is His purpose?  If we read verse 29 in Romans, we see:  "For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers."  God's purpose
for us is to be conformed to Christ, and this does not happen unless we learn to lean on Him.  When life is easy and untroubled, we take things for granted especially our relationship with God.  However, when the storms come, we run to His arms of strength and shelter.
     Paul understood that without the thorn in his life, the trials and tribulations he would have tried to do things in his own strength rather than leaning on the Lord.  It was through his weakness that he found the power of Christ.  The same is true for us.

     God's purpose is to conform us to His dear Son.  As a master sculptor, God must chisel away at our attitudes, sin nature and self confidence.  This process hurts, but the remedy is resting in the power and strength of Jesus Christ.  Remember the lesson of the cactus.  The needles hurt to touch just as our trials hurt, but from this painful plant comes a beautiful flower representing what God can do when our lives are fully yielded to His molding and remaking of our lives.  Selah!


I welcome your thoughts.  How has God been working in your life to conform you to His Son?  How can you encourage others from what He is teaching you?

The Consequences of Looking Back

     Over the years, I have met so many people that cannot let go of the past.   I have a dear family member who has this malady.  She complains about the way she was raised and all the things which she missed.  Her mantra always contains "If only".  "If only" she had been treated differently growing up her life would be so much happier.  "If only" so and so had treated her better she could forgive them....etc.  With a focus only on past difficulties and disappointments, it is hard to be optimistic and move ahead.
     Genesis 19:15-26 tells the story of Lot and his family.  Read this entire passage to get the complete picture.  In the story, two angels had been sent by God to retrieve Lot and his entire family out of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for God was about to bring judgment on these places.  Lot was a man of great wealth and had many comforts even though the city was a depraved place to live.
     Lot did not want to depart so he lingered for a moment looking over the city he was leaving.  However, the angels took his hand, and pulled all the family members out of the doomed city telling them not to look back.  In spite of this warning, we know what happened.  Verse 26 tells us that Lot's wife looked back and was instantly turned into a pillar of salt.
     Certainly, it was not easy for Lot and his family to leave wealth, comfort and a familiar way of life behind them.  Yet God was sparing their lives and this certainly was far more important.  Sadly, Lot's wife could not let go of the past even though the cities were wicked.  As a result, she paid with her life.

A famous Lake Placid Caladium

     Throughout scripture, we are told to let go of the past.  Isaiah 43:18 reads:  "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past."  Jesus told us to put the past behind us in Luke 9:62:  "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."  In Philippians 3:13-14, the Apostle Paul reminds us:  "forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which re ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Over and over again, God admonishes us that if we want to get ahead in our walk with Christ, we need to put the past behind us.  Now, that does not mean we should forget the good lessons we have learned along the way.  However, it does mean that we are to keep our eyes focused on the goal of becoming more like our Savior.
     When we dwell on past hurts, defeats, failed businesses, unsuccessful plans or other broken dreams, we are a good deal like Lot's wife.  We are immobilized and kept from being what God wants us to be.  We cannot change the past.  We can only move ahead in the future with the Hand of God upon us and His presence going with us.  Like Paul, we need to press ahead.
     Is there anything holding you back today?  Then, take a moment in prayer and release the past casting your burdens upon Him who holds our times in His hands.  Freeing ourselves from the past will allow us to run the race with our eyes properly focused on the goal ahead.  We will run better and faster by looking to Christ than by looking back to see what was behind.  Selah!




I welcome your thoughts as always.  Please feel free to share your encouraging comments here.