Years ago a dam was built west of Woodstock to create a reservoir that would be used for the town’s water before it began utilizing the Shenandoah River. Pipes and pumps were installed directing the cool liquid down into town for all to enjoy. Due to its deterioration and the fact that it is no longer needed, that dam will soon be removed.
Many municipalities rely on reservoirs to supply their water requirements. Out west, large dams like Hoover and Glen Canyon have been built to establish large bodies of fresh water. Many of these amazing fetes of engineering not only furnish water but also generate electricity.
When our group visited Israel, we found large sections of Herod’s aqueduct still standing that he constructed 2,000 years ago to bring water down into Caesarea Maritima. It was and is a testimony of the genius of ancient builders as well as their foresight and resourcefulness to supply an essential need.
As we consider these structures, they can help us understand a bit of the gigantic supply of God’s love. Although the lakes formed by such dams are enormous, God’s reservoir of love is larger than all the oceans of the world combined. He has and is an endless supply of this necessity that is more essential than water itself. It’s no coincidence that Jesus referred to His Spirit and His salvation as living water, for just as no person can survive physically without water, no person can survive spiritually without Him.
God has installed plumbing fixtures in each of us to receive His great love and to pass it on. Each human being has been fitted with a faucet to distribute God’s inexhaustible supply of love to others. But we have to open our valves.
Just as millions of gallons of water can be controlled by small flow restrictors, so too we can limit what God is able to do in and through us. In fact, until we receive Jesus as our Savior, our plumbing remains dry and empty, cut off from the vast supply available to us. When we do admit our sin and ask God to forgive us through Jesus’ sacrificial blood, God’s divine Plumber, His Holy Spirit, opens the valve on His end to flood our souls with His love, peace, joy, and power. Romans 5:5 tells us that God has poured out His love into our hearts.
Then it’s up to us. After we are saved, God’s infinite resources are available to us for our own benefit as well as to distribute to others. The more time we spend with our Father in prayer, worship, and Scripture, the larger our pipes become. Ultimately, however, we have to open our faucets to allow Jesus’ living water to flow out and over others. By lavishing His love on our friends and neighbors and even on our enemies and strangers, they too get a taste of how refreshing and transforming God’s love is. No matter how much we share, God’s reservoir will never be depleted nor even reduced.
Looking back, I’m thankful for those who channeled God’s love into my life: parents, grandparents, siblings, teachers, pastors, Sunday School teachers and others who willingly opened their faucets to share something that wasn’t really theirs anyway. As a result, I was able to taste and see that the Lord was good and made the decision to open my own intake valve by becoming a Jesus-follower. Then, copying His example and theirs, I began opening my faucet to pour out His love, truth, and grace on others. In moments of selfishness and fear, I’ve sometimes reduced the flow, but with God’s help, my desire is to be a massive aqueduct conducting and channeling the fulness of God’s love, truth, and grace to others.
As we celebrate Valentine’s Day, let us be sure our intake valves are unobstructed and then open our faucets to shower God’s love on others. Valentine’s Day blessings, George