"Water don't lie."

​This last week in my social media timeline, I was reminded of a special memory from one year ago this week when my family and I moved into our new home. As I looked the pictures over, I was struck by how you could tell exactly where the previous owners watered the lawn and where they didn’t (actual picture above). It’s not much different this year. Where we water, it is lush green grass. But where the water stops, it is dead and brown, or weedy.
 
This reminded me of a sermon I heard about 5 years ago from Berean Fellowship of Churches president Scott Mathis. If I remember correctly, I was in my tractor at the time listening to his message as I prepared the summer fallow for September wheat planting. It was in August, so everything was very dry. In the message, Scott told about his old cowboy friend Keith who was assigned to teach him how to irrigate a pasture on this ranch he worked for in the mountains of Colorado. On the horseback ride to the pasture, Keith told him, 

“Son, water don’t lie.”

What he meant by that was that if water didn’t get to a certain section of that pasture, before long it would be obvious. It wouldn’t grow the grass needed for the cattle.  
 
One of the symbols of the Word of God is water. Water is often used in industrious applications today to cut materials. God’s Word cuts right to our hearts (Heb. 4:12). Water cleanses us as well. God’s Word, too, has a cleansing effect on our lives (Eph. 5:26). Water also comforts and refreshes us, as does God and His Word (Rev. 22:17).
 
If the water of God’s Word isn’t getting into our lives or certain parts of our lives, we shouldn’t be surprised to find dead, brown spots and weeds in place of lush, green grass! With the church’s vision of a tree that has deep roots and is bearing fruit, it’s going to require us to constantly be watered by God’s Word. What are the dead brown spots in your life? What areas of your life reveal that you aren’t getting the water of the Word that you need?

​In a research project by The Center for Bible Engagement, a division of Back to the Bible with Arnie Cole, they sought to answer this question: Why do so many people own Bibles but so few read them? Since its inception in 2003 asking that question, they have surveyed more than 400,000 people around the world about their spiritual lives. A key discovery they found is that if someone engages God’s Word 4 or more times a week, their life will look radically different from the life of someone who doesn’t.
 
Among those Christians who do not engage the Bible most days of the week, their lives are statistically the same as the lives of non-believers. For those in the Bible once or twice a week, it had an insignificant effect on them. If someone was in the Bible 3 times a week, you could start to tell there was a heartbeat – a tiny bit of a difference. But for someone who engaged the Bible 4 or more times a week:

• loneliness was down 30%
• anger issues were down 32%
• bitter relationships were down 40%
• alcohol abuse was down 57%
• feeling spiritually stagnant was down 60%
• struggling with x-rated material was down 61%
• improper relationships outside of marriage were down 68%
• gambling addictions were down 74%

 
On top of that,

• sharing faith with others went up 228%
• the likeliness to disciple others went up 231%
• the likeliness to memorizing scripture went up 407%

 
The research is incredible but not surprising if we believe “water doesn’t lie.” God’s Word is powerful and the best counselor. This research proves Isaiah 55:10-11, 

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” ​

​Ask God today to water the brown spots in your life as you consistently begin the discipline of spending quality time in His Word. 

“Remember son, water don’t lie.”

In Christ with you,

​Pastor Justin