Downstream

Out here in the country on the farm, life is experienced differently than it was back in the days when suburbia was all around me.  Entertainment is not dinner and a movie, but getting in the truck and going out to the pasture fence line and watching the cow as they graze.  An alternative on some evenings means taking the ten mile ride down to the river and watching the current move the water downstream.  I know.  Really exciting stuff!

 

Today while doing my morning devotional read by Oswald Chambers, I found myself hurrying to read about a reference he made to a river.  John 7:38 enables us to hear Jesus saying, "Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water."  Now, that is an exciting thing to contemplate.  Think about it for a minute.  Jesus offered "living water" to the woman at Jacob's Well in Samaria.  It was water she could receive from Him.   And, only a short time later He is declaring that the same life giving water flows through each of us who believe in Him.  It is important to realize that Jesus did not say that this living water is in us.  It is not ours to possess and claim.  It is what flows through us because we are connected to Him through the power and person of the Holy Spirit.

 

Another thing which we often miss is that He did not say "a river of living water," but "rivers of living water."  The influence we can have because of His presence in our lives is like unto many rivers that emanate from a single source.  The influence of Christ through us is widespread.  It is beyond our ability to measure.  What He imparts to us flows out of our life to touch many lives and go into places about which we know nothing.  Such is how rivers work and flow.  Thanks be to God for allowing us to be a part of all that is going on downstream.