Living vs. Stagnant

While I was walking the country roads the other day with my friend, I spotted a stagnant pool of water. It had just rained heavily the day before so a flowing stream was actively moving right alongside of this mirky pool.

Because I am a visual learner, I love to picture Scripture. Jesus tells us: He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, "From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.' (John 7:37) Ahh, did you catch the words "flow" and "living"? When we claim Christ as our Savior through faith, His very-much-alive Spirit enters in! He takes up residence within us; in Him we live and move and exist (Acts 17:28).

The question I posed to myself (and now to you) as I looked at the active stream flowing next to the stagnant pool was, "Which one am I?" and, "How do I keep living and moving and existing in Him?". The answer is not a complex one. As a matter of fact, it makes perfect sense: His living word is our living water. Just as we literally drink water for our physical bodies to operate efficiently on a day to day basis, our souls, too, need daily spiritual doses of His living and active word (Hebrews 4:12). Let us choose to drink and drink and drink!

We drink by reading His word. Then we meditate on it, believe it, and obey it through the power of the Holy Spirit. Reading it only, and not applying the other basic principals is like taking a sip of water and not swallowing it. After a while, it becomes a stagnant pool resting in one's mouth, supplying no benefit to the body whatsoever. His word and His Spirit are meant to move us in ways and measures beyond what we ourselves can imagine. My friends, drink (read) ...and swallow (meditate, believe, obey), because if you do, your life will resemble a flowing stream, powerfully living, peacefully moving, and beautifully existing.