The Power of Water
“While it is easy to point back to the “tidal waves” and “flash flood” moments of God working in our lives, Christ-like character happens as we consistently allow the river of God’s grace and power to flow over us.”
Each spring, something begins to emerge that affects our lives in subtle but annoying ways. No, I’m not talking about cicadas (thankfully), I’m talking about potholes! Over the winter, tiny amounts of water seep into cracks in the road and freeze, creating holes that grow bigger and bigger with each subsequent rain. Despite the millions of dollars and thousands of hours that go into building and maintaining roads each year, water has a way of always winning. This isn’t the only way that water makes it’s presence felt in our world. If you go to a stream and pick up a stone, chances are it will be smooth because of the continued exposure to water over long periods of time. Many canyons were carved slowly but surely by rivers or creeks that simply continued to flow and erode the stone more and more until it became a canyon.
What is amazing about water is that its power isn’t often noticed in a single moment, but over years and years of its continual presence in a landscape. A jagged stone doesn’t become smooth after a quick dip in a river, but only through a sustained immersion in the currents.
Our spiritual growth is the same way.
While it is easy to point back to the “tidal waves” and “flash flood” moments of God working in our lives, Christ-like character happens as we consistently allow the river of God’s grace and power to flow over us. This explains the word pictures we see throughout Scripture that call us to “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16), “run with endurance” (Hebrews 12:1), and “endure trials” (James 1:12).
Now, there is a possibility to think about this illustration and think it is a call for passivity, for doing nothing so that God can do his work in us. This understanding of spiritual growth has led to many immature Christians – it may be the reason why you yourself have seen so little growth and change in your life. Unlike a rock that happens to find itself in a stream, we have a choice as to whether we will place ourselves in the flow of God’s transforming grace or not. To think that I can have my heart and soul transformed to be more like Jesus apart from placing myself in the position where that happens is like thinking I can get clean by turning on the shower and then going and sitting on the couch for a while.
Therefore, you can never overlook the importance of consistency in following Jesus. This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:18, “We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit”. We look into that mirror day after day as we study and meditate on God’s Word and meet with him in prayer. We look into that week after week as we gather together to worship on Sunday mornings and in Small Groups to pray for and encourage one another. All of this and more come together to create the environment where through continued exposure and participation, we begin to turn into the kind of people God is calling you to be.
So don’t overlook a morning devotional or a Sunday morning service, they come together to form a river that can smooth out even the most jagged stone.