“Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?” James 3:11 (NLT)

Soooo, how is your spring? What is bubbling out? Because what is in us, will come out.

I wish I could say that I was always a spring with fresh water. There have been times I was Judgy McJudgerson. I have had bitter and hateful words come out. I have responded in anger and resentment. That is not a spring anyone wants to drink from. Me either. It takes time, but we can change the bitter to fresh, life-giving water.

James 3 talks about how difficult it is to tame our tongue. How we can praise God one minute and curse men the next. “Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.” James 3:12

If we ever hope to have the right fruit … to have what those around us need … we need to stop being salty or bitter. How? Glad you asked:

“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as Your Lord, you must continue to follow Him.
Let your roots grow down into Him.
Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:6&7 (NLT)

and…

“So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of His will and to give you spiritual understanding.
Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit.
All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.” Colossians 1:9&10 (NLT)

This is the audience participation part. We don’t get to sit back and expect change to happen. Just because we accepted Jesus, does not mean we never have a bad day, a hurt, a betrayal, anger, frustration, want to run away to Montana. Maybe that last part is just me, but you get the idea. Life is hard, we are imperfect and will respond or react in our default: “this is how I always responded way”. UNTIL we dig deep and rip out the bitter or salty roots. We can’t keep doing what we used to do and expect a different result.

Recently, I was talking to someone, who hurt my kid and every time I saw them, the anger would rise up and I wanted to punch them. That day I realized that I didn’t feel that way. It took 2 years! 2 years of going back to God each time I was angry; each time the impact of what happened smacked me in the face. That is the hard work of turning bitter to fresh. That is allowing God to change me to look and act more like Him, with His fruit in my life. It is such a freeing thing to no longer carry all that around. I want my life to reflect Him, not my anger or disappointment.

Springs have life around them. They are not barren. In the same way, our life will reflect what we are connected to.

“But the Godly will flourish like Palm trees and grow strong like cedars of Lebanon.
For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house. They flourish in the courts of our God.
Even in their old age they will produce fruit; they will remain vital and green.” Psalm 92: 12-14 (NLT)

I want that! How about you? Let’s be real for a moment, we will never be 100% like Jesus. We can’t be because we are human and we make mistakes and respond wrong and can totally screw something up. But we can become more life-giving and less salty/bitter. We can, not because of who we are, how determined or strong we are, but because we are connected to God! Our source for all life and strength.

Let’s start today by looking at what is bubbling out when we respond or react to a situation. Are we salty or bitter? Are we life-giving? What are we connected to? Is there a hard work we need to commit to?

Let’s Go! We are strong and flourishing! We can do it!
All my love,
Jodi xo

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