Recently we were helping my mother-in-law look at properties. One of the first questions you need to know about a property is if it has water. There is some beautiful land not far from our home that can’t hook up to city water and whose wells have dried up. Unsurprisingly their value has plummeted. What use is a property with no water source?
Not much.
Many are living in a spiritual house with no water source.
What do you draw from as your spiritual source? Most draw from many sources: their conscience, self-help gurus, counselors, friends, podcasts, and news sources.
There is nothing wrong with any of these. But they are not the source that we depend on for truth.
THIRSTY
In Amos, God warned of a coming famine. “’Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord God, ‘when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord’” (Amos 8:11).
You don’t take a Coca-Cola on a hike. You don’t water your garden with saltwater. You don’t rehydrate with a glass of wine. We depend on fresh water.
STREAMS OF PURE WATER
In the first Psalm, we learn of the blessed man. We are told, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither” (Psalm 1:3). These pure streams of water were there in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:10). Ezekiel prophesied that one day God would flood his land with these pure streams (Ezekiel 47:1-12). And in John’s final revelation, we see that this crystalline river of life will take center stage in eternity, “flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city” (Revelation 22:1).
What is this source? What were we made to draw life from and always will depend on?
This source of nourishment is our spiritual water and bread, it is the Word of God.
In the middle of a forty-day fast, the devil approaches Jesus and tempts him to create food. Jesus reminds him that there is something more important to him than food. His spirit relies on the daily nourishment of the Word of God. Quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, Jesus says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
THE TRANSFORMING SOURCE
The Center for Bible Engagement has surveyed more than 400,000 people around the world (!) and determined that the most significant impact on someone’s spiritual growth is how often they read the Bible.[i] They discovered that the tipping point is four times a week. Those who read their Bible four times a week are 228% more likely to share their faith with others, 59% less likely to view pornography, and 30% less likely to struggle with loneliness.
In short: if you want to look more like Jesus, read your Bible.
The Bible is our source.
CULTURAL CATECHESIS
Catechism is an old world that refers to intentional formation. Going back a few hundred years you could find catechetical books written by every Christian denomination. The curriculum we use at New Life for children’s and students’ ministries is catechetical. It wouldn’t be unkind to think of The Bee Hive as my attempt to catechize those I am called to shepherd.
As I look at the American church, I see a church whose main catechesis is being done by Fox News or CNBC. Social media influencers are catechizing Generation Z. I don’t see a church whose source is God’s Word.
The American church’s home has no fresh water source. We sip soda and beer and think we are quenched. But we are dying of thirst and starving spiritually.
We must return to the only source that can transform us.
SEVEN MARKS OF TRANSFORMATION
If we make the Bible our source, here are seven marks of that transformation:
1) Our days would begin with time in the Word of God.
2) You could not categorize us by a political party, because our beliefs would be shaped by God’s eternal Word, not political allegiances.
3) We wouldn’t bat an eyelash that some of our beliefs seemed behind the times or archaic, because God’s truth is eternal and does not evolve over time.
4) We would grow in humility because we recognize that without God’s Word, we are completely lost.
5) We would grow in love for God because he is compassionate enough to speak to us who are deaf.
6) We would grow in intentionally creating places of quiet to hear God’s voice in a loud world.
7) We would not only be hearers of the Word, but doers.
Don’t you want to be transformed in those ways? I sure do. And I long for us as a church to be marked by our dependence on the only true source, God’s Word.
New Life’s Culture Statements:
2. The gospel changes everything
4. God loves you and your neighbor
5. We are contributors, not consumers
6. Character outlasts charisma
Photo by Ezra Jeffrey-Comeau on Unsplash
[i] https://www.backtothebible.org/research. Lifeway has conducted similar research with similar results.