BY: TERRA WAGNER
My Hope and prayer for you, as we enter into the weeks after our Broken Vessels conference, is that you would begin to see your life as a spring that is constantly flowing versus the Dead Sea that only imports nutrients and never exports any. If you live your life as a consumer who only consumes the Word of God and never exports an encouraging word, a generous gift, or an act of service to someone else, then you will become stale, overly salty, selfish, and lifeless as a person. Proverbs 11:24-25 (NIV)
“One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”
God designed our life to look like a healthy balance of importing and exporting. As we receive our daily bread in the morning when we dive into God's holy and Living Word, then we are prepared to give an export of precious and Heavenly Goods to those around us.
You have nothing to give unless you've received something first. When a stream receives water from a fresh source uphill, it begins to team with life. New life grows and ecosystems are formed. But when the spring dries up, the ground becomes hard and life does not grow. Tiny fish and living organisms die or flee to find somewhere else that is teeming with life. Algae takes over when water is not rapidly rushing by and life, as we know it, comes to a halt.
How often do our internal lives look like this when we have reached a point where we think we have maybe learned it all or we have become very comfortable where we are, and we stop pursuing God in a way that He should always be pursued.
There are areas of our lives that we need to let the Living Word of God rush through and clean out all the things that have been building up in the dark and hidden corners.
What areas of your life do you need this Living Water to rush over, in, and through?
How can you make 2018 a year where you are constantly not only importing and consuming Heavenly things, but also exporting these things, as well?
Who in your life would benefit from you exporting wisdom, selfless acts of love, and an encouraging word?
Who does this well in your life whom you can mirror?
Action item: Find one person this week that you will let be a consumer of a Heavenly Good that you have to offer!