Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
The book of Proverbs is interesting because it's not the one that you read through continuously. Very often, you're turning to Proverbs and maybe it's a proverb a day. Maybe it's the day of the week that you go to it, with the book being 31 chapters long. The thing that's so powerful about Proverbs is that they provide for us wisdom in bite-size pieces. You can open up the Proverbs and pretty much put your finger on any section of the page, and it will speak directly to an area where there's an opportunity for growth or development or challenge in our lives.
What's in Your Heart?
When I look at this proverb we're sharing today, it's no different. I think each one of us can relate to the very direct challenge that comes from what we just read together, where it says that a face being reflected in water is similar to how the heart will reflect what it contains. This is something that we have to be very aware of in our lives.
I remember reading a quote a long time ago by a man named Henry Nouwen, and he said, "If we don't have a hidden life with God, our public life for God cannot bear fruit." What he was talking about is this connectedness that happens in hidden places that actually produces who we are in public from a real, organic, and life-giving place.
We Can Perform Without Being Connected
What's interesting about that quote is he doesn't say, "If we don't have a hidden life with God, we can't perform like we're connected. We can't do ministry. We can't act like we have it together," because we all know, sadly, we can. We know how to perform as though we are connected in hidden places when the reality is maybe our connection isn't properly plugged in.
This might be a very silly example, but it helps me to think about what this proverb represents. You know, we all have a cell phone, and it becomes essential for us when it comes to communicating and navigating life. Sometimes you get into a pinch and you find yourself challenged because your cell phone is starting to deplete, the battery is going down quickly, and you know you're going to need it to keep working in order to function.
The Charger Analogy
Let's just say you grab your charger, you got your cell phone, you plug it in into the phone, and you now have this other end where the plug needs to go into an outlet. Now we scour the room trying to find a place where we can plug in our charger. Imagine if you got over to where the outlet was, you lay the phone down and then you also lay the charger, and the outlet is right there where you can plug it in, and you put the charger on the ground next to where the outlet is, and you walk away going, woah! That was a close one. I almost didn't make it.
Now somebody's watching and they go, wait, what are you talking about? You were right near where you could plug in the charger, but it's not plugged in. You're not going to get the life you need for your phone to come back to full strength. That's a silly analogy, but I think it's important for us to remember that it's possible for this to be true.
Are You Plugged In?
Our hearts can be near the things of God. We might be near the Bible. We might be near when people are talking about Jesus. But if we're not plugged in to the source of life, if we're not drawing from the source where true and real love can emanate, if we're not tapped in to the fruitfulness that comes as a result of knowing Him for ourselves, then we might be adjacent to the things that are coming from God. We might be near the things that are coming from God. But if our hearts aren't actually connected to the source of life, we will not produce in this life the things that come from Him.
Today, I want you to take some time not to ask the question, does it look like I've been connected to the source of life? but in the hidden places, am I really connected to where the source of life comes from?
