LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Rivers Will Flow
“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:37-39).
Nothing is more miserable than the restless efforts of a soul out of communion. We may be very busy; our hands may be full of work; our feet may run hither and thither; the head may be full of knowledge; but if the heart be not livingly occupied with the Person of Christ, it will, it must be, all barrenness and desolation so far as we are personally concerned; and there will, there can be, no “rivers of living water” flowing out for others. Impossible.
If we are to be made a blessing to others, we must feed upon Christ for ourselves. We do not “drink” for other people, we drink to satisfy our thirst; and as we drink, the rivers flow. Shew us a man whose heart is filled with Christ, and we will shew you a man whose hands are ready for work, and his feet ready to run; but unless we begin with heart communion, our running and our doing will be a miserable failure – there will be no glory to God – no rivers of living water.
We must begin in the very innermost circle of our own moral being, and there be occupied, by faith, with a living Christ, else all our service will prove utterly worthless. If we want to act on others; if we would be made a blessing in our day and generation; if we desire to bring forth any fruit to God; if we would shine as lights amid the moral gloom around; if we would be a channel of blessing in the midst of a sterile desert, then, verily, we must hearken to our Lord's words.
We must drink at the fountain head. And what then? Drink still – drink ever – drink largely, and then the rivers must flow. If I say, “I must try and be a channel of blessing to others” I shall only prove my own folly and weakness. But if I bring my empty vessel to the fountain head and get it filled, then, without the smallest effort, the rivers will flow. (C.H. Mackintosh).