Be A River.
One of the beautiful parts of life in Zagreb, Croatia, is that I get to walk our kids to school everyday.
Compared to sitting in car lines and traffic for hours everyday, I have fallen in love with taking such a short walk to school every morning and afternoon (though the playgrounds and bakeries along our route make the afternoon walks a bit longer!).
Walking is one of the daily rhythms and God’s means of grace in my life these days.
And a short walk away from our apartment is the Sava River, which runs through the city of Zagreb. The Sava River winds through several countries in Europe and, if you follow it far enough back to the West, you can find the origins of the Sava River in some small springs.
Zelenci Spring. One of the origins of the Sava River.
Which is true of all rivers, isn’t it?
No matter how strong or powerful or wide or deep a river may be, every river has humble beginnings.
Every river starts small.
The Sava River reminds me of a beautiful passage of Scripture in the book of Ezekiel where the prophet sees a vision of a river, and the great book The River Church highlights how this vision applies to our lives today.
Here’s the vision of Ezekiel:
“The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was trickling from the south side.
3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. 6 He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?”
Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.”
In these verses we read about a beautiful river that starts small and then slowly builds strength and momentum as it gets deeper and deeper, starting from ankle deep until the waters would go over the head of Ezekiel. And it is there, where the water is at its deepest, that Ezekiel sees life in the fruit trees and the fish that will call the river home.
It is a river of life, and it starts with a trickle of water under the temple of God.
In recent months, I have been learning two main lessons from the Holy Spirit as I return time and again to this passage.
The first is that we are called. Called to:
Go deep in the river of God.
While the shallow end of God’s river and the Christian journey is a fine place to start our journey with Jesus, we are called to move beyond the shallow end and move deeper into our relationship with God. Walking with Jesus will lead us beyond meager participation in a church community & minimal prayer times and Bible reading. Instead, walking with Jesus will lead us into a spending more time in God’s presence through prayer, diving into God’s Word, and serving and worshipping God individually and in community.
Going deep into the river of God will transform us more and more into the image of Jesus as we become more Christlike through the power of the Holy Spirit (which is often called sanctification in “Christianese”).
We are called to follow Jesus into deeper discipleship, deeper holiness, and deeper Christlikeness.
And yet - the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not just for us - it’s for others too! And that is the second lesson I have been reminded of.
We are called to: Be a river.
Just like He did throughout Scripture, God invites us fallible humans to participate with God in His healing and reconciliation of all of Creation. We are called to join God in His mission of bringing His Kingdom and eternal life to every corner of His Creation.
Be a river. Join in the work of God throughout the world.
Not that we take Jesus in our pocket to any place where He is not already at work. Rather, we participate in His river spreading and flowing into the places and spaces where we are - and where God has been all along.
Join in. Right here. Right now.
Not one day when we “figure out life” and have the “right” career or degree or relationship status or life circumstances.
Jesus invites us right now as the people we are currently to receive His life-changing salvation and to go deep into His river and - as we are transformed by His love into His likeness - to be a river of God’s healing, love, compassion and justice in the corners of the world we find ourselves in.
Take a step today. Perhaps you need to take a step further into God’s presence and surrender something to God. And then you can take another step into the world around you and share the life-changing love of Jesus Christ with those around you.
BE. A. RIVER.
I want to highly recommend the book The River Church which provided me with a new perspective on this passage of Scripture and how it applies to our lives today. It was the seed of this post and of my year-long journey with Ezekiel 47.
