A need for revival is triggered by the fact of being alive.
The contrast between what I need and what I have is enough to make me hungry for a change. “Whoever believes in me,” says Jesus, “streams of living water will flow out of his innermost being (John 7:38).”
This sounds good. This sounds like an elixir that could defeat inertia. Or a fountain to reverse the course of jaded aging. Something sweet and swift and beautiful, a fast-moving river where the fetid silt of sin can’t settle. “Streams of living water,” I think, are what I need.
I stick a finger in the pool inside my heart, and something big stirs down below. Ripples fan out and I jump back, concerned. This water is not flowing—it’s not clear or cold or refreshing. It’s so murky that it’s hardly water. Although I try, I can’t convince myself that I am coursing with the Jesus-streams of life. I need a change.
And a change is just what Jesus calls for. “GROW,” Christ says to the 5’4” man. “FLOW,” he says to the girl with no rhythm. “Do what you CANNOT DO and be who you CANNOT BE. Put on your strength and your beautiful garments which you DO NOT HAVE.” (Revelation 3:1-3).
To the beggar, Christ says, “Get up, carry yourself like a man, and walk with the confidence of a corporate exec; don your Armani suit with the Ray Ban shades.”
“But—” says the beggar.
“I know,” says God. “What I am really saying is COME WITH ME. I’ll put an end, not only to your begging, but to your beggarly spirit. I can do in you what you can never do yourself. Come with me.”
The impossibility of the commands God gives us to fulfill (“Be perfect, as I am perfect”) awakes us to the fact that we will never really start living without revival. The revival arrives when Christ enters our lives and uncorks an artesian spring inside us. This could be called the first, and greatest of revivals. However, it is one that occurs again, and again, and again, as pure spring water clashes with the marshy ground of my soul, most fittingly called bottomland.
I know that I will never grow out of my need for the gospel, of my need for fresh forgiveness, fresh empowerment, fresh change—a fresh start. Revival will always be with me because I will never outgrow my need for the Spirit of Christ to change me—to repeatedly wash and quench me with his streams of living water.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Soul Change: A Continuum of Revivals
Subscribe to:
or 
or
3 comments:
Nice post. May I ask, is the photo of Avalanche Creek?
Cheers.
Is Avalanche Creek in Glacier National Park? If so, it probably is. :)
Yes it is. It's on a trail going up to Avalanche Lake off the main road. Good times.
Cheers.
Post a Comment