I was planning on continuing some thoughts on Psalm chapter 1, but I have been waiting to share this with you guys for a while now, so we're going to pause Psalm 1 and check out this for a week.
This was part of my other blog I did for a school project "Beyond the Hymn", but this was something God really spoke to me earlier this year and it continues to convict me. Hopefully this will make you think and give you something to ponder and chew on as you go throughout your Monday.
Back at my home church a couple months ago, the speaker used an example I had never heard before. He gave a brief geography lesson. He talked about seas in Israel. The Sea of Galilee is a thriving sea; lots of life, vegetation, and animal life. Just 50 miles south the Galilee Sea flows into the Dead Sea. However, true to the name, the Dead Sea is dead, empty, and lifeless. But the Sea of Galilee is just north of the Dead Sea and it is doing great!
What's the difference between the two?
The Dead Sea does not have an outlet. The Sea of Galilee outlets into the Dead Sea but the Dead Sea takes in all that water and keeps it in. Because it has no where to go, everything dies in the Dead Sea.
Now the speaker applied it to the Christian life. Christians learn and gain knowledge and blessings from other Christians through fellowship, interaction, Sunday School, church services, etc. Other Christians are sharing their knowledge and blessings through different forms of media (Pastor through church services, Sunday school teachers through their class, other Christians through interaction and fellowship). These Christians are usually happy Christians who are growing, serving, and being blessed by God.
There are also Christians who struggle. Perhaps they complain a lot and whine about different circumstances. They gossip, they are jealous, angry, and irritable. What can be a reason for this?
These Christians do not have an outlet.
These Christians are not sharing what God has done for them with other Christians. They aren't taking the time to minister to others. We are all called to be salt and light to the world. We should be bursting with blessings and Biblical knowledge to share! Maybe you don't think something God did in your life was a "big enough" blessing. Or maybe you think you don't know enough about the Bible to share. You never know how God could use a "small" blessing to bless and impact someone else.
Christians who fail to share and minister to others the love of Christ are dead Christians.
This made me think of the hymn "Make Me A Channel of Blessing" by Harper G. Smyth. Harper G. Smyth doesn't have a story like some other hymn writers do. He was simply a faithful servant who served as a music director in local churches and for other organizations. He penned these strong words that will most likely convict anyone who takes the time to really read the lyrics.
Verse 1:
Is your life a channel of blessing?
Is the love of God flowing through you?
Are you telling the lost of the Savior?
Are you ready His service to do?
Refrain:
Make me a channel of blessing today,
Make me a channel of blessing, I pray;
My life possessing, my service blessing,
Make me a channel of blessing today.
Verse 2:
Is your life a channel of blessing?
Are you burdened for those that are lost?
Have you urged upon those who are straying
The Savior Who died on the cross?
Verse 3:
Is your life a channel of blessing?
Is it a daily telling for Him?
Have you spoken the Word of salvation
To those who are dying in sin?
Verse 4:
We cannot be channels of blessing
If our lives are not free from known sin;
We will barriers be and a hindrance
To those we are trying to win.
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