The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1913-10-03
Living Waite"
He That Believeth on Me
Out Of His Heart Shall Flow Rivers
Of Living Water.-John 1888.

the great body or Christians. 80
we are given here a definition OF the
ideal Christian. Perhaps you have
thought sometimes that you would
like to know, in a few plain words,
just what Jesus expects Of you as a
Christian. Here is an answer plain
and simple. 1t was the time OF the
feast of the tabernacles. There was a
vast number of people in Jerusalem,
and they were gathered in the temple
area. Above them stand the priests.
pouring water out of large jars, TO
symbolic the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit upon Israel. Just then Jesus
speaks, and amid the silence of the In
tently watching throng his voice rings
out: IF any man thirst let him come
unto me and drink; he that believetn
on me, out of his heart shall flow riv-
ers of living water" That packs into
sentence Jesus ideal of what true
Christian down in this world should
be- and may be.
Water is the essential Of life. Alb
sence Of II means suffering, sickness
and death. All the history OF the
world clusters about its water courses.
Harvest Should Be for All.
In the book of Joshua we read, For
Jordan overfoweth all its banks all
the time of the harvest" When there
was flood in the river, there was har-
vest In the land. Has there been har-
vest in your life? A harvest of the
fruits of the spirit-love, joy, peace,
long suffering? mo" you say mot
much Of q harvest" Perhaps none at
all Do you know why? Is it not be-
cause the Gospel of Jesus Christ has
not filed your heart with its fioodtide
of power? When the blessed stream
has filled your being 1t must find an
outlet, 1t produces harvest And 1t
blesses all who come near 1t.
If you look at chart showing the
circulation of the blood you will see
a wonderful network of lines running
in every direction. but they all con-
lead to and from the heart. And every
where the blood goes there is life. Now
turn to a map showing the water sys-
tenn of some great valley like the Mis-
sissippi. Here again you note net
work Of little streams and rivers, all
converging in the great main artery,
and that leading to the sea. And ev-
erywhere the water goes there Is life.
Here is Jesus picture Of the Chris
tian down In the world. AS the red
stream of life is sent out by the force
pump of the heart to give beauty and
health and strength to every part Of
the body, so out of the personality Of
the true believer shall go a fiood-tide
Of power. bringing refreshing, and
cleansing. and beauty and vigor every
where within the circle Of his life.
What marvellous conception Of the
power of life! And how strikingly 1t
describes Jesus own life! But there
Is something more wonderful still. Je-
sus means that ideal to become real in
you and In me- Perhaps you are think
ing to yourself 'I wish | could live
such life, but 1t is not for me;
have no special talent or opportuni
ties; and the strong tides of tempta-
ton at times sweep met off my feet;
40, it Is not for me-" Yes it is for you
IL you will only yield yourself to the
Masters influence.
Believe in Him, Is the Secret.
st. John has a story in his gospel. In
the fourth chapter, about woman
who seemed indeed most unlikely in
strument for the Masters purpose.
! She was a woman of no reputation,
rather of bad reputation. She prop
ably had no influence In her town. But
she met Jesus at Jacobs well. and she
listened to him and believed on him,
| and there lies the secret Of what fol-
lows. --'''" '''- ''---'-.'
She went back to her village and
commenced speaking about Jesus to
those she knew The result was start
ling We are told In the simple lam
guage Of the Gospel that many be-
lieved on him because of the word Of
the woman" There is only one way
TO account for such results. Only the
Holy Spirit speaking through her lips
could have produced them. She had
begun to drink of the water of life, of
which Jesus had been speaking to her,
and already the living water was flow
ing out to others.
The same Jesus wishes to do that
with you, and far more IL you will let
him. Let me ask. why have we not
all the same power for Christ that
this woman had? Well. possibly some
of us are like Nicodemus who came
to Jesus by night. There is no power
because of timidity. We are afraid of
what people might say. And some of
us may be like Lazarus was physical
Iy. We are tied UP tight. hands and
feet and face. We are the slaves of
some sin, of some habit; there is
something wrong. Now whatever 1t
is, It is clogging up the spiritual chan.
nel which should bring supplies Of liv.
j ing water from the great reservoir OF
I the heart of Jesus. How shall we
have power, abundant, life giving
sweetening our own lives and infiu