Flowing River or Dead Sea?

Have you ever wondered why the ocean is salty but other bodies of water are not? Simply put, because the salts that get deposited in seas, lakes, rivers, and streams, have an outlet to remove those deposits, namely, a path to the Earth’s oceans. But, the oceans have no outlet, and thus they become the final resting place for the salts that originally got deposited in those smaller bodies of water.

Other than the oceans, most every other body of water has a flow in and a flow out. These waterways are called exorheic, meaning they externally drain through one or more outlets. These waterways get nutrients in, they also send nutrients out. Sadly, pollution too is also passed through the Earth’s waterways much this same way. Though relatively few in number, there are some non-oceanic bodies of water that only have inflow and no outflow. One such body of water is the Dead Sea, which is located between Jordan to the east and Israel to the west.

Despite its name, the Dead Sea is not really a sea at all. (The difference between oceans and seas is both size and proximity to land. Whereas an ocean is a vast body of water, a sea is a comparatively small and partially confined body of water surrounded by land.) The Dead Sea is an endorheic lake, meaning that it retains its water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water. The Earth’s largest lake, the Caspian Sea, is also an endorheic body of water. Along with the Jordan River that flows into the Dead Sea, both nearby springs and rainwater keep it from totally evaporating. The Dead Sea is a receiver but not a giver.

Many of us are like the Dead Sea. We receive but we do not give. We receive water in, from any number of sources, but no water ever flows from us to others. I believe whether or not you are a Jesus-follower, the purpose of receiving is the same – to bless and enrich us but also to then in turn give away for the blessing and enrichment of others. We get in order to give.

In an encounter with a Samaritan woman at a well, Jesus said this – “Everyone who drinks of this water (well water) will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14).

Later on, still in John’s Gospel, during the annual Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), the priests draw water from the Pool of Siloam as a remembrance of God’s provision to the thirsty Israelites during their forty years in the wilderness. But this simple drink of well water does not fully satisfy the people, so Jesus makes this appeal – “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:37b-38).

What do I see in those two passages above? I see Jesus telling you and telling me to not be like the Dead Sea; don’t just receive and fail to give. Putting our trust in Jesus, looking to Him to satisfy all that makes us thirsty, will quench our inner thirst forever. But not stopping there, as our thirst, our longing gets quenched, we are to be ever-flowing rivers through which Jesus can quench the thirsts of others, with His spring of water welling up, His endless source of living water.   

Rivers only flow if they send water out. So, I ask you today, are you more like a flowing river or the Dead Sea?

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