We once lived beside a home with a pond. It was a lovely place with a weeping willow tree on the bank and a wide assortment of wildlife. Fish, frogs and, much to the dismay of the owners, muskrats thrived in the water. A nice place to sit in the shade and experience nature.
Contrast that with a stagnant pond that was down the road a mile or so. This pond was green with algae. It had a slimy film covering the surface and if you had your windows open when you drove by you could smell it before you saw it. I can’t imagine much could live there except mosquitoes. Not a place where you would want to spread a blanket and have a picnic.
The definition of stagnant is “not flowing in a current or stream; not advancing or developing.” Whatever it is, water, air or something else, if it isn’t moving in some way it becomes stale. If there is only input and no output it slowly loses its life. With water, if there is only input then the only way for the water to leave the pond is evaporation. That process continues to concentrate the minerals until the body of water cannot support life. It’s the reason the Dead Sea is dead.
The thing is, we are like a pond. God is constantly pouring into us wonderful things that He means for us to use. Resources that are for our benefit and the benefit of others. If we just sit there and soak it all in and never find a place to put those resources to use we become like that stagnant pond: smelly, uninviting, and avoided. And if we get so full that there is no room for more we won’t be able to receive fresh infilling either. We will just continue to become more stagnant, not allowing God to give us fresh living water because we refuse to share what He’s already given us.
Is God doing a new thing in your life? Is He calling you to step out and share with others in a new way? I believe the Lord wants us to take a risk and let Him flush the stagnation from our lives. Ask Him to show you what He has for you to do and I’ll bet it will be the most refreshing thing you’ve done in a long time!
John 7:38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'”
James 1:22 “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”