The Keeper of the Stream
John Ortberg writes this story in his book, Soul Keeping:
“The water was clear like crystal. Children laughed and played beside it; swans and geese swam on it. You could see the rocks and the sand and the rainbow trout that swarmed at the bottom of the stream.
High in the hills, far beyond anyone’s sight, lived an old man who served as Keeper of the Springs. He had been hired so long ago that now no one could remember a time when he wasn’t there. He would travel from one spring to another in the hills, removing branches or fallen leaves or debris that pollute the water. But his work was unseen.
One year the town council decided they had better things to do with their money. No one supervised the old man anyway. They had roads to repair and taxes to collect and services to offer, and giving money to an unseen stream-cleaner had become a luxury they could no longer afford.
So the old man left his post. High in the mountains, the springs went untended; twigs and branches and worse muddied the liquid flow. Mud and silt compacted the creek bed, farm wastes turned parts of the stream into stagnant bogs.
For a time no one in the village noticed. But after a while, the water was not the same. It began to look brackish. The swans flew away to live elsewhere. The water no longer had a crisp scent that drew children to play by it. Some people in town began to grow ill. All noted the loss of sparkling beauty that used to flow between the banks of the streams that fed the town. The life of the village depended on the stream, and the life of the stream depended on the keeper.”
Debris in the Stream
I remember when I was a kid we would often go to visit my grandparents who lived in Phenix City, AL. Back behind their house was a forest full of pine trees, with a series of red clay hills. And between those hills it wasn’t uncommon to find a small stream.
Sometimes that water would be flowing crystal clear. But other times, if it had pooled and sat still long enough, it was muddy, slimy, and stagnant.
Even if you don’t spend a lot of time outdoors, you understand how this works. The best way to keep a stream or a river vibrant and fresh is to keep it free from debris. To keep the source of the water unblocked from moving through the stream. And as long as that happens, the water is good, useful, and pure.
But what happens when we’re not talking about a river, but we’re talking about your life? What happens when the stream is your soul?
What happens for a lot is us is that we’ve fired the old man who tends the river of our life. There’s no one clearing the debris from the stream that is our soul and so we’ve grown stagnant. We’ve allowed the debris to take over, the impurities to multiply, and now what’s happened is that our lives have become dark, polluted, and impure.
What’s happened for many people, even Christian people, is that generally speaking, we’re not that concerned with sin.
One Kind of Fruit
That’s part of what was happening in the lives of these first century Christians that Paul wrote to some 2000 years ago living in the province of Galatia.
Paul doesn’t mince words when he tells them that if we allow the debris to pile up, if we allow our lives to become dark, polluted and stagnant, if we give in to sinful desire, the outcome is obvious.
“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.”
Paul wants to be abundantly clear here… this is what life looks like apart from God. This is what life looks like when you choose to follow your own sinful desires instead of following the desire of the Holy Spirit.
This is what life looks like TRANSFORMED by sinful desire. This is the fruit of the flesh.
Another kind of fruit
There is, however, ANOTHER WAY. Paul says…
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
In other words, there are TWO KINDS OF FRUIT.
The fruit of the flesh and your own sinful desire. We know what kind of fruit that life produces.
OR… The fruit of the Spirit of Jesus. This is the kind of fruit that leads to the good life, the abundant life, life the way God always intended.
And this kind of life, if this is what we’re known for, not only does it lead us into living the best possible life, but it brings glory to God. It speaks well of God.
If we are known as people who are loving and filled with joy, who are peacemakers and patient, who are gentle, and forgiving, and kind… then people will come to know that we serve a God who is loving and filled with joy, who is THE peacemaker and is always patient, who is gentle, and forgiving, and kind…
If this is what WE are KNOWN FOR as the people of God then this is what our God will be KNOWN FOR to those around us!
Which kind of fruit comes from you?
Which one will you be known for? Which one will you allow to TRANSFORM your life?
“The city council reconvened, the money was found, the old man was rehired. After yet another time, the springs were cleaned, the stream was pure, children played again on its banks, illness was replaced by health, the swans came home, and the village came back to life.
The life of a village depended on the health of the stream.
The stream is your soul. And you are the keeper.”
— John Ortberg, Soul Keeping – Caring for the most important part of you
How is the state of your soul?
Is there debris that needs to be cleared? Are you known for the FRUIT of the FLESH or the FRUIT of the SPIRIT?
This is an important question because it’s not just about you. It’s not just about your soul. It’s about the glory of God. It’s about the reputation of God. It’s about what God is KNOWN FOR.
And, it’s not just about God. It’s also about the village around you, the people around you.
THE LIFE OF THE VILLAGE AROUND YOU MAY DEPEND ON THE HEALTH OF THE STREAM WITHIN YOU.
And this is important because…
What comes from you when the pressure is on you reveals what’s in you.
Your Fruit Matters
The reason the fruit of the Spirit within you is so important is because we live in a world that desperately needs to know the God we know.
Your life in this world matters. And the fruit of the Spirit of Jesus in your life revealed in this world matters.
And I know it goes unseen… every time you pick up your scriptures to spend a few moments with Word of God. I know it may sometimes feel insignificant, taking time to humble yourself in prayer to talk to God. You may wonder if God hears. You may wonder if God is near.
But every moment you spend as the keeper of the stream within you allows the Spirit of God to produce fruit within you. And that fruit is for your benefit. That fruit is for the benefit of God’s church. And that fruit is for the benefit of the world around you.
Don’t ever underestimate what God is doing within you when you spend time with Him. Because He is working to transform you from the inside out.
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