DAILY DEVOTIONAL – February 16, 2021
“Fight the Freeze!”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, Your Word is life and Your Word gives life. Thank You for Your presence with us in Your word. Amen.
Scripture: John 7:37
Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Devotional – “Fight the Freeze!”
It’s hard to believe, but this is my fourth year living here in Nebraska since moving from California back in August of 2017. Many of you know that, despite living in Southern California for nearly my whole life, I am not averse to winter weather; I actually like it a lot! Despite my enjoying cold weather, I learned this morning that I don’t love everything about it.
It was an odd morning overall. Usually my children are up and awake by 6:00am or 6:30, so oversleeping usually isn’t a problem for my wife or I, except this morning my wife could sleep in because the schools were closed due to the cold weather and I forgot to switch my alarm to “on” before turning in for the night. Being woken up by email and text message notifications, I looked at the clock and it was 7:15am! That’s always a horrible feeling isn’t it? So I am in a big hurry to get ready and out the door. After getting dressed I rush into the bathroom to clean up, turn the faucet on, and…nothing. No water. Not even a drip. Being from California, it took a couple seconds for me to realize that the water was actually frozen in the pipes.
More than I was surprised by having no water, as I shared what happened throughout the day today, I was even more surprised by what I learned is a good way to prevent that from happening again. In California, emergency water conservation and dealing with droughts is a normal part of life. Not only because it is so incredibly expensive, but also to try and always conserve water, you never, ever, ever leave water running. I learned today, however, that in sub-zero Nebraska winters, keeping your water flowing and letting all of your faucets constantly run with a trickle will significantly reduce the chances of the water sitting and freezing in the pipes. A high water bill is a happy sacrifice to make to avoid the cost of repairing burst water lines.
As I thought about that today, it made me think of why it is so important to not become complacent or negligent in our faith; why it is important to make sure our faith is a flowing faith that is always in motion and moving ahead. That is actually what the people in Jesus’ day would have understood when Jesus said believing in Him would fill them with “living” water. Living water was water that had movement and motion. It was water that came from God, like the water that fell from the sky and the waters that flowed through the rivers. If you take a look at the landscape of the areas in Israel where Jesus ministered, you’ll see barren parts of wilderness butted up right next to lush, green parts of the land. The difference? Flowing, living water that gives life.
Much like with the water in the pipes in my house, if our faith is stagnate and motionless it risks being frozen and of no help when life around us gets hard and cold. Much like with the muscles in our body that will weaken and eventually atrophy without movement, so our spiritual muscle of faith needs regular exercise. The problem is, as Scripture says in Romans 7, “The Law of God is spiritual, but I am of the flesh.” In our sinfulness, we are by nature unspiritual and it is not in our nature to be as concerned about spiritual health as much as we are our physical health, the health of our finances, and the health of other worldly things in our life. The Good News is, God has given us something that we can see, that we can engage with our eyes, and hands, and ears; His Word. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
When we are active in the Word of God, He keeps our faith moving and growing, and Jesus Himself said that it is the Word of God that the Spirit of God uses to draw us to Jesus who is life itself. If we are hearing the Word of God an believing in Jesus, then that hearing and faith will propel us into action and motion and life lived in the Word of God and in the fellowship of believers in the Church. As James 1:22-25 says, “22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
Thanks for joining me for another time of devotion, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today, and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
