09/02/2025
Are we satisfied with what God has done in us? When we look in the mirror in the morning are we pleased and at ease with the fact that Jesus has filled us with His teaching and that the Holy Spirit has expanded us to the point of popping at the seams? All of this is wonderful, but what is really asked of us isn't to achieve self-fulfillment, but rather that we Channel all we are given to the betterment of those around us. Our measure is in the redistribution of our faith and loving service, not simply in the volume of work we do.
“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"”
John 7:37-38 ESV
It's hard for us to let life pass through us, by our very nature we are builders and even hoarders. We gather and store grain, knowledge, and even our spiritual gifts; and yet God expects us to share them... not hold them for ourselves. His plan isn't to grow grapes, but to make wine. I was reading Pastor Oswald Chambers’ devotional offering for today and loved a very similar idea he wrote...
"It is not that God makes us beautifully rounded grapes, but that He squeezes the sweetness out of us. Spiritually, we cannot measure our life by success, but only by what God pours through us, and we cannot measure that at all." - Oswald Chambers
There are certain movies that I can watch over and over, one of them is "Mr. Holland's Opus." In this movie Mr. Holland (a would-be composer) believes that he will one day write a musical masterpiece but takes a job as a high school music teacher as he struggles to write the music that he believes will make him famous. In the process he falls in love with the students he teaches... years upon years of them, and in his advanced age he realizes that his Opus will never be written. He also comes to realize that has given himself to others, and that his real treasure isn't about what was in it for himself, but what flowed through him into those he inspired to love music. Mr. Holland found a truth in life that we should realize in faith... it isn't what we gather, or the glory we bring upon ourselves; it is what flows out of us and the glory of that belongs to God. That is our opus, our music, and is our greatest gift to God.
Jesus was the perfect example of a conduit for God's will, and His kingship exemplified the grace of a Lord who loved all those who came to Him… far more than He loved Himself. Paul compared Jesus to the rock that followed the people Moses lead through the desert... out of Him flowed water. Listen…
“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”
1 Corinthians 10:1-4 ESV
When women went to the well each day they brought jars which they filled with water, then they carried them home where that water was distributed and used for many purposes in sustaining their families. It would have done no good if they had capped those jars and hoarded them in a storeroom, but as the water was poured from the jars it quenched the thirst of many and washed the hands and feet of family and strangers alike. It never remained in the jar for very long, and each day the women returned to the well... and the water flowed into both families and friends through their efforts and from their jars. This is God's desire for us… not to horde our faith but to fill ourselves with its living water, and pour this into the lives around us.
So, what are we doing with our gifts? What are we doing with the blessings that God bestows on us?
I know a man of great faith, and he is my spiritual mentor. There is no such formal position, but I look upon him in that way. He is humble in spirit and would trivialize his impact on me and others, but the water of faith that flows through him quenches the thirst of many many people. He is intellectually brilliant and yet, like Mr. Holland, he feels that he has never written his Opus. But, what flows through him has defined him. The souls He has brought to salvation, the prayers for healing, the teaching of the gospel, the selfless service to the church and so much more living water... this defines his life and glorifies God. My senses are thrilled to the point of being overwhelmed by the music of Bach, but I never knew him. My understanding of scripture has been increased by the likes of C.H. Spurgeon, but he has never consoled me in my grief and sorrow. This man, my spiritual mentor, has something that the great musicians and theologians don't... he has the love of many through the delivery of Christ's message of redemption and love, and not a single possession has been earned by his worldly efforts. He is an aqueduct that carries God to those who need Him most, yet unlike the great Roman Aqueducts that stand out in the landscape he travels life nearly invisible.
Do you know someone like that? How about you? Are you delivering the gifts, the blessings, the Gospel, without concern for gathering it behind lock and key in your own personal storehouse? How will you be remembered by those around you? Will it be for what you once were and the riches you amassed, or by those who look at their own lives of faith and see your mark there as they pass that selfsame water through themselves to others?
I end my thoughts this morning... or perhaps I begin them, as I begin my day... with this thought by Pastor Chambers:
"Our Lord's teaching is always anti-self-realization. His purpose is not the development of a man; His purpose is to make a man exactly like Himself, and the characteristic of the Son of God is self-expenditure. If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain, but what He pours through us that counts." - Oswald Chambers
Prayer:
Father I thank you for all the saints that pour Jesus Christ through themselves. I thank you for all those who give no thought to the fact that once they have expended themselves in their efforts that they might end up in chards like a worn-out earthen vessel. Then Father, I praise you for seeing the worth in them and raising their bodies from the dust and clay to serve and praise you for all eternity in glory. Help me Holy Father to please you without concern for myself. Help me to carry living water from the side of Jesus to all those who thirst. Make me a working vessel that you, the potter, has made for utility and use; don't allow me to become painted, beautiful, and placed upon a shelf with no use other than for the looking. Father please don't allow me to become a monument to man that demands admiration and awe, but rather, make me like the grass that cools the feet of those who stand to admire what the rain has made of it... help me to reveal your presence there. Let me be the simple cup that holds the living water that refreshes the saints, and I will praise you day and night for having touched me, even if for an instant, as you have passed through me. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who sent your Son Jesus to be born, live, suffer, die, and be resurrected so that through Him my sins would be remitted, and your grace poured over me. Help me Lord to be such a vessel and to carry your gifts and bounty to where they are needed most. For this I will worship and praise you. In this I find my greatest wish fulfilled… that you be glorified always!
Amen! Amen! Amen!
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.””
John 1:14-16 ESV
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Titus 3:4-7 ESV
Rich Forbes