WE ARE EMPHASIZING the fact that for us to be in Him is not enough. To be only in Him would make us a weak, absorbing, clinging, dependent, uncreative type of person. He must be in us if we are to be upstanding and creative with initiative and go. There is a passage which illustrates this: “but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Note: “the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring”—the gift creates spontaneity. That is a miracle of giving! To give to people and not weaken them or make them dependent is difficult. Here what He gives from above becomes a spring from beneath. He gives and produces initiative in the recipient. That is not only grace, it is also a revelation of the intention of grace; it is to produce creative personalities. The end of creation is to produce creative persons.
That is more and deeper than the end of getting us to heaven. To get us to heaven would still find us recipients—still taking bliss, fellowship, love, and peace, but still taking! The end is not taking, but giving. That changes the nature of heaven. It must be a heaven of creation or it wouldn’t be heaven. It must be a heaven, not of passivity, but of possibilities. A heaven with a creative God at the center receiving praise and adoration forever would be a God out of tune with Himself. This verse says: “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” This means not that we will well up till we come to eternal life and then drink eternally of eternal fountains without, but it means that we will well up eternally ourselves and from within. It means we will be continuously and eternally creative. That would be a worthwhile heaven worthy of creative beings.
O God, our Father, we tingle with excitement at the unfolding of Thy plan in creation. Thou art creating creators. And I am under the plan of Thy creation. It awes me, humbles me, and makes me stand up straight, eager, alert, Thine. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I am not a cistern; I’m a spring—a spring gathering resources from the eternal hills and flowing for the thirsty.
