Proverbs 4:20-25 (Amplified Bible)
20My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings.
21Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart.
22For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh.
23Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.
24Put away from you false and dishonest speech, and willful and contrary talk put far from you.
25Let your eyes look right on [with fixed purpose], and let your gaze be straight before you.
When we were stationed in Okinawa Japan, we attended Torii Chapel, ( which is now God's Way Ministries) and one of the Praise and Worship songs we use to frequently sing was entitled, "I've Got A River Of Life," it spoke of a well that sprung from our soul, that made the lame to walk and the blind to see. It has the capability to open up prison doors and set the captives free. The chorus invoked the well to spring up and make us whole, and give us life abundantly. When you speak is it a Charlie Brown cartoon where all people hear is wah, wah,wah, wah, wah, or is it like an E F Hutton commercial where everyone stops to listen. When we are around, are we the light that enters the room or are we the cloud that darkness the lives of those we encounter?
I have a friend that is in the midst of a season of transition, it has proven to be a tough time for her, and she has been struggling with being hurt by those she had been loyal to. Today, she fell on my heart and I sent her an e-mail. As I read her response I could sense the hurt and anger that she had become trapped in. I prayed for her and wrote her back, I was lead to encourage her that no matter what, God was in control and that she could not let people or circumstance change the awesome person God had made her. The next reply was unexpected and a pleasant surprise. She told of the days that had gone by that she had been struggling and how she missed her friends from work, but she then said the message she had received from me was a reminder, not to let people take her down and that I had always been to her a constant source of uplifting and light. My eyes filled up with tears, because I knew in that instant that it was not me, but the God in me that provided that comfort and that light. For without God's love shining through, my words would prove to be nothing but empty and my attempts at comfort nothing but failed. I meet people daily and the consistent word is that there is something about me, or that I am different. That difference is the God that lives within, that river of God's love, His mercy and His saving Grace, that is flowing from me. No it is far from perfection that I profess, because I am a work in progress, but don't we owe it to our Savior to give what He has freely given us?
Can it be said that there is something that flows from us that enhances the lives of those we encounter, or are we the ones being enhanced with little benefit to others. When people encounter us who do they see, just someone they assume is good, or nice, or are we ones to effect change with our words and does our very existence lead the way to the one who brought us? Is the river that flows from you, the mud of unforgiveness and the contamination of pride or does it flow with the pure, crystal clear love that God gave to us on Calvary's Cross, and His redemptive power, that forever changes, delivers and saves? What's flowing out of you? Is it Jesus or something else?
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