Let Living Waters Flow
While the scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit and must be spiritually discerned, we will gain greater understanding of some passages when we read them with cultural sensitivity. Just consider the following verse.
"Whoever believes in me, as the Scriptures has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Sprit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive (John 7:38-39).
John 7:38 tells us that out of our belly living waters shall flow. During the time and culture that the Scriptures were written, the belly was considered to be the center of emotions. In our culture, we consider the heart to be our center of emotions. Just consider the symbolism we use in everyday language: tender-hearted, cold-hearted, that touched my heart, heart-ache, that ministered to my heart, and spoke to my heart. All of these make perfectly good sense to us, because we are accustomed to this (culturally sensitive) language. However, to a foreigner whose culture did not use the heart as the center of emotions, theyd think we were a bit strange. Imagine ... an organ that was sensitive to temperature, touch, and sound.
We are created in the image of God. Even our emotions. Even Jesus was tempted in every way, but was without sin. He must have been tempted to be angry, depressed, bitter, jealous, envious, hopeless, etc....
These emotions arent bad. We just cant be ruled by them. God gave them to us so that we could experience things just as fully as He does. As such, we are to respond just as "fully" as He would. I believe these emotions are given to spur us on to Godly action, not keep us bound in godless inactivity.
Our emotions are perhaps one of the hardest things to gain control over. When these emotions are in check because they have been dealt with, not by our own willpower, but by the activity of the Holy Spirit, then can "living waters flow."
Jer 17:13 refers to God as a "spring of living water." Water is necessary for growth and health. It nourishes, sustains, and gives life. God is our source of Living Water. And the Living Water that He pours through us is His Holy Spirit.
His Holy Spirit in us nourishes, sustains, and produces fruit. Galatians 5:22 tells us that "the fruit of the Sprit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." The fruit of His Holy Spirit isnt something that just happens. It is the result of His activity in our lives, especially in our emotions. We choose to let Him deal with these areas in our lives. We cant just choose to be gentle, but allow Him to deal with whatever would interfere with our being gentle. Then can He demonstrate gentleness through us.
Fruit, whether it be oranges, apples, grapes, figs, or watermelons, consist primarily of water. Without water, the fruit would be little more than a bit of pulpy fiber and a few seeds that are probably too shriveled to reproduce.
So it is in our lives. Without Holy Spirit, we produce little more than good deeds. There is no real fruit and certainly no fruit that remains. Also, the fruit has no "seeds" that reproduce themselves and lead to eternal life for another. We must have Holy spirit flowing freely in order for lasting fruit to be produced.
Some people, because of their personality or temperament, seem to have fruit. A quiet person can seemingly have a gentle spirit. An outgoing person can seemingly have joy. However, these are not the same as the fruit of the Spirit. Fruit of the Spirit is a supernatural activity within us that enables us to choose to demonstrate Christs character. It is His supernatural activity through us that enables us to make a choice to act in a Christ-like manner rather than react.
Without Christs supernatural activity within us, we may react to certain situations with emotional responses. At times, we can be quite emotional. Unforgiveness, depression, sadness, and being out of control are some typical emotional responses to various situations.
With this in mind, lets paraphrase the scripture that we read in John 7:38-39 ("Whoever believes in me, as the Scriptures has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Sprit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.).
When we believe in Jesus and allow Him to work in our lives, God will flow through our lives especially through our emotions -- in the form of His Holy Spirit to produce lasting fruit.
Lets choose to let living waters flow through us.
Carole Korakas, WaterMark Ministry, www.watermarkministry.org
