River of Love, not a Reservoir

I listened to my favorite pastor describe his former belief that he was like a reservoir of God’s love and then compare this to his new understanding of being a river of God’s love.  As a reservoir, he received God’s love in the morning, and then as the day went by, he gave it all away, like a reservoir that ran dry. As a result he returned home emotionally spent with little or nothing to give to his family (except his frustrations and grumpiness.) God challenged him to change his view and instead see himself as a river of God’s love. The river continues to flow, and it does not empty, as a reservoir can.  He likened our continual abiding in God’s love to a fruitful vine, which Jesus describes in John chapter 15. Please join me as I examine this wonderful idea of abiding in God’s love like an ever-flowing river that never runs dry.

When we think of ourselves as reservoirs, we only permit part of God’s love to fill us. We may think his love is so rich, that we cannot handle all of it. Perhaps we believe that much love will require us to love others beyond our ability to handle their sorrows and needs. We may believe we have limits, and thus we cannot handle God giving us more love, when we are not emotionally strong enough to handle giving such love. 

We might strive to serve God out of our own strength, thinking our hard work produces the fruit Jesus mentioned in that famous passage of John chapter 15.  We may even misunderstand Bible verses that seem to promote human striving. For example, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” (Phils.2:12) might sound like a demand for human striving. But this verse actually tells us to live out our faith in daily life, cultivating salvation through the grace in which we received it, not by works.  The “fear and trembling” refers to our respect and reverence to God, and not a demand to live by the works of the Law.  Verse 13 confirms this truth, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act to fulfill His good purpose.”  God does the work in us.

But how can we be a river that is never quenched, since our flesh is so weak, and our human spirit is easily crushed? For example, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” (Matt. 26:41b) and Psalm 103:13b, “He knows our frame; he remembers we are only dust,” and in both Jeremiah 10:14 and 51:17 he says humans are “stupid and devoid of knowledge.”  In 1Thes. 5:14b Paul told the brothers, “Admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be patient towards all.” Finally Gals. 4:19 says, “But now that you have come to know God, or rather be known by God, why do you turn back again to the miserable and weak principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again?” Clearly humans are weak, and even when we strive, we cannot make ourselves strong.

Yet Jesus came up with the concept of remaining or abiding in him “Abide in me, and I in you,” John 15:4a. The King James version says to “abide,” and the newer translations say to “remain.”  The rest of verse 4 says, “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” We cannot overflow with God’s love and remain filled, like a river, unless we can “abide” in Christ.  So how do we continue to abide in Christ? Jesus gives more answers in the same chapter. In verses 9-10 he says, “As the father has loved me, so I have loved you; continue in my love. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”

But this might sound like circular logic (no logic at all) if we think we need to keep doing God’s commandments so that we do not strive to keep his commandments. How can we really feel God’s love if we keep striving to do his commandments? Yet Jesus has more answers in verse 11: “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow.” Remember “The joy of the Lord is your strength,” Nehemiah 8:10b.  We find strength in God’s joy, and Jesus says that when we obey his commands, out of love for him, we find joy and strength.  Furthermore, Jesus does not call us to be slaves but friends, as he says in verses 14-15, “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.”  Friends enjoy abiding with their friends (with Jesus as our friend.)

And Hebrews 12: 12:2-3 reminds us about “Keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people, then you won’t become weary and give up.”  What does “keeping our eyes on Jesus” mean? We have no paintings of him for us to admire. So it must mean that we need to think about Jesus and about his kindness to us, as well as his strengths and beauty. For example Psalm 119:114 says, “You are my refuge and my shield; your word is my source of hope.” Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” And Psalm 63:1-6 really expresses the idea of meditating on God: “You are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you; my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips, my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.” Here is David who had entered the sanctuary (comparable to a church today) and he felt God’s power as he worshipped God.  Even when he was in dangerous places, he acknowledged that God had cared for him.

And if we still have doubts about how to abide in God and meditate on him, look at Psalm 143:5: “I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.”  Especially note the last line of this—he considers what God has done.  God has done so much for us.  In Isaiah 41:10 he promises to strengthen us and uphold us. In John 3:16 he loved us and gave his Son to die for our sins. In Joel 2:26 he gives us enough to eat and drink and never puts us to shame. In John 16:33 he overcame the world for us. In 2Cor. 5:21 he took our sin so we could become sinless. In Psalm 31:19 he gives us refuge.  In 2 Tim.1:7 he gives us a spirit that overcomes our fear and instead gives us power, love and self control.   In John 14:26 Jesus says, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” This means that he gives us the Holy Spirit to enable us to do the things he commands us to do (mentioned earlier in this post.) So he even helps us to do the things he commands us to do.  He can change our desires so they align with his will for us.

I could go on about things God has done for us. Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, healed the sick, comforted and included the outcasts, raised the dead, and forgave those others hated.  He did so many good things in the past and does so many good things for us in the present.  If we meditate on all the good things he did and does for us, and if we meditate on his strengths and good qualities, we will feel his peace. As we do this, we can fall in love with Jesus. Then maintaining a continual connection will not be work but joy.

We must continue to refill ourselves with his love throughout the day, because we have the capacity to do the opposite—to empty ourselves of God’s love and the Holy Spirit’s power. 1Thes. 5:19 warns us to not quench the Holy Spirit. Ephs.4:20 warns us to not grieve the Holy Spirit. And Acts 7:51b warns, “You always resist the Holy Spirit.”  So we must think about the kind things Jesus did. We must meditate on his kindness and praise him for this kindness and well as for his strength and mighty qualities that we lack (all-powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing, etc.,) because he uses those powerful qualities for our benefit.

Jesus summed up our being a river and not a reservoir when he said in John 7:38, “He who believes in me, as the Scriptures says, from his innermost being, will flow rivers of living water.” In verse 39 the Apostle John clarifies these rivers are the Holy Spirit. Over and over in the book of Acts it speaks of “being filled” with the Holy Spirit, and not just experiencing this once. For example Acts 13:52 says, “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” But they had already been filled earlier. This shows that we can continually be filled with the Holy Spirit as Ephs.5:18 b says, “Be filled with the Spirit.” It does not say, “Get filled up with the Holy Spirit,” but to “be filled” which is a continuous command. So we now have a full picture of our ability to be rivers and not reservoirs.

We can let God fully fill us, through the Holy Spirit, through our meditating on his kindness and greatness as we see this in His Word, and as we experience it in our lives.  We can abide in Jesus so we are like perennial trees that continually produce fruit, and as rivers that constantly flow, not as reservoirs that run empty. I pray we have blessed you with this week’s post. Next week I will discuss things that hinder our fruitfulness for the Lord. Oh, how I pray we have blessed you with this essential post. We GET to enjoy the Lord. We do not HAVE to obey him, but can obey out of sheer love. Our Christian faith can be an overflowing joy that enriches other people’s lives too.