Cracked

For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. John 17:8

In my prayer journal, I've written in regard to the above verse, "Jesus, may You be able to pass on to me all the words that the Father has given You." I truly want that to be so, but it raises an uncomfortable question for me, and for you; He has sought to pass on all the words that the Father has given Him to us. Why do we retain so few of them?

Someone said that in our desire to be free, whole, and filled with His life, we too often fall short of entering into the realization of that desire. They said that the "cracks" in our lives allowed what He was pouring in to leak out. Cracks in our lives, our hearts, and our spirits. We all have them, though we don't much care to admit it, or address them.

What would those cracks be? Some are obvious, disobedience, attention to our "idols," things we've placed above Him, and often just lack of spiritual discipline and laziness. These might be the easiest to address because they're the most visible. I think it's the subtle cracks that do the most damage. They can be things like ministry activity. Doing "work" for Him can become so consuming for us that we lose our connection to Him. We're on auto-pilot and not really in any kind of communion with Him. Whatever words He has for us quickly "leak" out. There's also the distractions that we allow. Some of them are good, but none of them are the best. They too draw our attention from Him. There's also compromise. We fall into the trap of thinking that the ends justify the means, and we make common ground, intentionally or not, with the enemy. The most damaging of all may be our busyness. We overcommit, and overextend, to the point of exhaustion. In the end, we're too weary to hear and respond to Him. All of these are cracks, and all of them allow His life, healing, and wholeness to leak out. Which ones fit your life, and which fit mine?

There is only one Who can seal these cracks, and His name is Jesus. When we bring our lives, and all the cracks we've allowed in them to Him, He closes those cracks with the glue of His Holy Spirit. They will stay sealed, but we have to be diligent, or else new cracks will form where there were none before.

Cisterns were and are common in the arid Middle East. Their purpose is hold water, a precious resource in that part of the world. Jesus spoke of cracked cisterns, that were useless because they were unable to retain the lifegiving water. How much of our life resembles a cracked cistern? How much of what He pours in is retained by us? What are the cracks that need to be sealed in you and me? I once heard a person referred to as a "leaky bucket," a person who could not be counted upon. What will we be? Cracked cisterns? Leaky buckets? Or, holders and givers of His Living Water? The answer depends on how we address our cracks.

Blessings,

Pastor O