“Because of the LORD’S great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” — LAMENTATIONS 3:22-23

The influence of what we do will rarely exceed who we are. It is who we are that gives true effect to what we do. Jesus didn’t say to His disciples that they have the salt of the earth or they’ll carry the light of the world. He said, “You are the salt of the earth – You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:13-14) It is who we are that is the source of our effectiveness and what we do is an expression of who we are.

Lamentations 3:22 tells us God’s mercies are new every morning. The Lord Jesus is always ready to be to us today what we will need today. We do not need to live on stale experience, stale blessing or stale provisions, but we need to keep in constant touch with Him. It is this fresh walk with Him that will make His work effective in us and through us.

It has been said that things are better caught than taught and this rings true for me in people who have meant the most in my life. Something about them, which they’re probably unaware of, has rubbed off on me, and it derives from the daily freshness of their walk with Christ.

As the river enters the stagnant waters of the Dead Sea, its water too becomes fresh (see Ezekiel 47). Its freshness, in turn, becomes contagious, but in reality, the Dead Sea is the most stagnant water in the world. Although the Jordan River flows into it, there is no outlet for the water to flow out. The hot sun causes the pure water to evaporate, and the remaining sea grows ever more thick and stagnant with concentrated minerals and sediments.

Do you see the significance of this? Of all the seas into which a river flows, the Dead Sea would be the most disadvantageous, but yet the river penetrates and changes it. This is because that river flows from the sanctuary of God. It’s a picture of the potential of our lives. God may pour us into the stagnant waters of a “dead sea” somewhere, and through us change it to become fresh and life-giving.

PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, You are a sovereign God, and can make change happen wherever You choose. I want to be like the Jordan River, poured out into a dead sea that needs You. Use me in this way, Lord, so that others may come to life and enter into a relationship with You that is fresh every morning. Thank You, Lord.

TO REFLECT UPON: Do I sometimes look around me and see people in whom I think change is impossible? How does this picture of the Jordan River, flowing into the most stagnant sea in the world change that?