Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Proverbs 4:23 NIV
Springs of Life
A small neighbourhood in Abbotsford, B.C. has the best municipal tap water in the world. Clearbrook won gold at the annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting in West Virginia on February 27, 2016. Judges tasted hundreds of waters from 18 U.S. states, seven Canadian provinces and five foreign countries. Clearbrook took first among municipalities in what organizers called the “biggest water competition in the world.” In Clearbrook, the water from the tap comes from groundwater extracted from the Abbotsford-Sumas aquifer.
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In a world where so many people are desperate for clean drinking water, Canadians are blessed to have it in abundance. People in the Middle East today, just as in Jesus’ day, recognize how precious water is for life. So, it shouldn’t surprise us that King Solomon wrote this in Proverbs 4:23: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” When a well in Biblical days got polluted or poisoned it was tragic – people died. On the other hand, when someone travelling across the arid desert came across a fresh, cool spring filled with life-giving water, it meant life, refreshment, cleansing. No wonder Solomon used this as a picture of our hearts. We need to guard against allowing the pollution and poison of sin to enter our hearts. It leads to spiritual death and eternal separation from our Creator. But when our hearts are filled with the presence of Jesus, we are filled with life, and that life flows from our hearts into the lives of others as we serve them with the compassion of Christ. Protect your heart from sin, and invite God’s cleansing Holy Spirit to flow out of you with life giving spiritual water.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley