Dried Up Wells

Dried Up Wells

As humans, we all have a thirst for something. I am not talking about the thirst for water or that delicious Blue Frost Gatorade in the middle of July; however, that is definitely a legitimate thirst. I am talking about the thirst that is so deep down in our souls that no one, no thing, or no decision can quench.

The thirst that only Jesus Christ can truly quench, eternally.

I am sure we are all pretty familiar with the story of the woman at the well. This Samaritan woman came to the well where Jesus was waiting. This woman had been with many men and was living with someone now whom she wasn’t married to, obviously trying to find her fulfillment in these relationships. But Jesus comes in with sweet news like always.

“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)

This woman has been running to a well that would never satisfy her for more than a short period of time. This isn’t just the story of how we can find eternal satisfaction in Jesus, but a story of how our running to other things for satisfaction will never last.

That new hair style will satisfy for a couple weeks. That new purse will satisfy until the better style comes out. That A in a class will satisfy until the next semester. That new relationship will satisfy until the first argument arises.

We have to stop running to wells that will run dry.

I am a people person. I love to make people laugh. I love for people to love me. I find my ultimate satisfaction and security in knowing that I am liked. But boy, that doesn’t last. I am going to disappoint along with get disappointed.

But how different would it be if I ran to the eternal well of Jesus to know I was loved.

 John 7:37 scream at us, IF YOU ARE THIRSTY COME AND I WILL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO DRINK.

It couldn’t be any clearer than that. We are going to thirst in this world, we are going to strive for a certain image, we are going to long for the latest and greatest, we are going to yearn to be filled with something. Only Jesus can fill us.

I challenge you, along with myself, to run to the well of Jesus each moment that we are longing to be satisfied in something deeper.

Come just as you are, thirsty for something deeper, and drink for free, eternally.

Written by Sarah Osborne

The Open Window Principal

"It is a tremendous freedom to get rid of all self-consideration and learn to care about only one thing - the relationship between Christ and ourselves." –Oswald Chambers 

              

Welcome back from Fall Break! 

I relish the opportunity that breaks from school give to catch up with family members who aren’t in my regular day-to-day flow of conversations.  I remember having one of those “catch-me-up-on-the-last-three-months-of-your-life” talks with my cousin few Christmas breaks ago.  As I was excitedly sharing with her the results from the spiritual gifts test I’d just taken, she asked me an insightful question that made me pause.  

“One of your spiritual gifts is hospitality, but do you have a hospitable soul?”

Pause to mentally download an image of your own soul.  An abstract place, but suppose it was a physical destination, a room let’s say.  All the elements of life that define you are contained in this space.  Your personality determines the color of the walls, the material on the floor, the style of chairs, the décor, the lighting.  While all soul rooms have electrical wiring available, only those who have trusted Christ for their salvation have electricity flowing through the lighting fixtures in their soul room.  That is the very first aspect of your room that needs evaluation.

What would a stroll through your soul room reveal?  Perhaps a bowl of the fruit of the spirit sits out on a table.  What is the thermostat setting?  Is there a love seat in the corner? Or a peace plant on the windowsill?  Windows line every person’s soul room.  Because God created us as relational beings, our soul room has a way to peer out and observe what lies beyond us.  Our windows let us see into other people’s soul rooms.  Maybe the windows are freshly cleaned or maybe a bit dingy, but no soul room is without these spiritual portals.  

God has a specific design for the Christian soul, and we can find the sketches for it in scripture. Through salvation He lights our soul rooms and through sanctification He continually renovates our soul rooms.  Missionary to India Amy Carmichael put it this way:  “There is always something more in your nature which He wills to mark with the Cross.” The Gospel is not just for salvation and giving light your soul, it is for sustaining you day-to-day.

When Christ enters a person’s soul He lights the first lamp within our room.   Once lies cloaked in darkness are banished, then we can view ourselves as we truly are. Next, He draw’s the curtains, pins them back, and points our attention outside.   The driving idea behind hospitality is putting your guest before yourself.  He wants us to take notice of others and think of their needs before our own.  He wants us to observe the beautiful way He designed others.  Beyond just seeing others, He wants us to really scrutinize others.  It takes knowledge to love.  Rather than just making random guesses at how to love those around us, spend time looking into their soul rooms to discover what would make the most impact.

He wants us to send our personal soul electrician over to darkened rooms around us.  We have knowledge of how to fix the wiring problems they have lived with for so long.  For those already lightened rooms, we send over a maintenance crew to help a brother or sister sharpen their tools, and we receive the same blessing in return.  Iron sharpens iron in Christian community.

Focusing on self is not God’s pattern.  He calls us to selflessly give of what we have emotionally, spiritually, and physically. "Dying to self" is the often used phrase to describe it.  When we live with eyes and hearts for others, the warm sunlight floods in, and we are filled with a joy that is unexplainable.  

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.  In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:3-5

Some Christians choose to drop the curtains and turn their attention to spending all their free time on self-aggrandizing projects that will make them look good.  Others nail in planks to board up their windows in fear of an emotional hurricane.  Living in fear of what others will think of them leads them to block themselves off from true community.  

The Gospel is about Jesus coming in and renovating your soul room – bringing in light, changing the atmosphere, and cleaning the windows.  The natural result of those changes is a better ability to love others - and loving others and is the natural  outflow of the light Jesus supplies. And it must be Jesus that cleanses; we are not able to muster up divinely powerful love that changes people’s lives without Him!

Shortly after my cousin asked me about the hospitality of my soul, I came across this quote.  The often-used phrase “dying to self” reminded me of that.  Here in this quote, the anonymous author lists a few ways to express soul hospitality through completely forgetting self and putting the focus on others:

“When you are forgotten or neglected and you don't hurt with the insult, but your heart is happy – that is dying to self.

When your advice is disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, and take it all in patient, loving silence – that is dying to self.

When you lovingly and patiently bear disorder, irregularity, tardiness, and annoyance…and endure it as Jesus endured it – that is dying to self.

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or record your own good works, or itch for praise after an accomplishment, when you can truly love to be unknown – that is dying to self.

When you can see your brother or sister prosper and can honestly rejoice with him, and feel no envy even though your needs are greater – that is dying to self.

When you are content with any food, any offering, any raiment, any climate, or any society – that is dying to self.

When you can take correction, when you can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, with no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart – that is dying to self.”

Audience of One

“He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.”
                                                -Psalm 1:3

            So says the psalmist David, whose life and legacy is testimony of supreme blessing from the Lord.  The Lord promised him He would never cut off his heir from the throne, and indeed the King of the entire universe eventually comes from David’s line of decedents.  Jesus will reign forever – promise fulfilled.  David took God’s promises seriously, but the mainstream Christian population does not demonstrate the same steadfast belief in God’s word.  May God stir us to be a generation of Christians whose roots run as deep as the tree David describes.

Approval fuels behavior. Proper “fuel,” however, is the most essential root-growing aspects of our spiritual life.  Each and every person has the innate desire to find validation from a source outside of themselves.  What a person is - characteristics embraced, the attitudes exhibited, even down to the type of clothing and style of hair - stems from feelings of approval or disapproval sensed from that person’s selected audience.  No man or woman is free from orienting their life around seeking the approval of a certain audience, even if they are not aware of whom they seek to please.  The question is not whether we have an audience, but which audience we have.  An important step to truly understanding oneself is to know the audience for which they live.  A Christian has the purpose of living before the all-seeing, all-knowing, ever-present audience of a holy God.  God, in all His majesty and splendor, is not One to blend in with the rest of life’s audience: A life lived listening to the decisive call of God is a life lived before an audience that trumps all others – the Audience of One.  All other audiences pale in comparison to the supremacy of God.  The Latin word “coram deo” means “before the heart of God.” Consistently living before His heart is the secret to fulfilling the verse that says, “Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2).  When living a “coram deo” life, gaining applause and accolades from earthly audiences loses its appeal - for a compliment from Heaven brings much more satisfaction than the most resounding earthly commendation.  

Amy Carmichael puts this concept in a very tangible way.  She says:

“If the praise of others elates me and their blame depresses me; if I cannot rest under misunderstanding without defending myself; if I love to be loved more than to love, to be served more than to serve, then I know nothing of Calvary love.”

Once we experientially know the deep and satisfying refreshment of God’s love that flows out of Calvary, we no longer choose spiritual indigestion over spiritual sustenance.  It is a very tough question to ask, “Am I so focused on pleasing the Lord that other’s opinions have NO effect on me?”  Even though we may believe that God’s approval is better than the approval of man, that doesn’t mean we’ve “tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).”  There is a big difference between believing and knowing that the Crowley Cafeteria has the best tasting ice cream on the planet and actually licking your lips after you’ve had a scoop for yourself.  God promises that when we seek His approval over man’s approval we will be deeply fruitful and prosperous.  

The fear of man brings worry, discontentment, un-fulfillment, wasted time, and doubted decisions.

 If you gage your decisions based on what others will say or believe about you, you will be distracted from God’s purpose for your life.  When you look to God as your source of confidence, He provides the instruction, the ability to carry it out, and the deep satisfaction of having your heart right before Him.  No amount of human applause can compare. 

“Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.” – Isaiah 30:21

Prayerfully ask yourself these questions:

·         Do I change my behavior around certain groups of people?

·         Do I act differently around girls and guys?

·         When I make a small decision, such as what to wear, what to say, or what activities to participate in, do I immediately think about what it will do to my relationship with others or how it will benefit my relationship with God?

            Receiving guidance from the Lord always proves to be the most exciting points of my life.  Others may look questioningly at your choice to find satisfaction in the Lord alone, but with time they will see the fruit of a healthy tree firmly planted in the Lord our Sustainer.