Source: Drawing Life from the Right Well

Every life is fed by something. What we take in — the ideas, influences and teaching we accept — becomes the well our strength, beliefs and character are drawn from. This article looks at the only two possible sources, why the two cannot be mixed, how to guard what we store within, and the inexhaustible supply God makes available in Christ.

Two Sources, One Choice

The kind of life a person lives indicates the life-source from which they receive input. We must ensure we draw 'water' from the right well — the dependable, morally consistent, lifegiving divine source that refreshes, sustains and ends in eternal life — and not the humanistic, sin-tainted world's polluted supply that ends in disaster (Rom 2:7-8).

Do not try to draw from both sources. The two wells are so unlike that no heart can drink from each and stay healthy: "no man can serve two masters" (Mt 6:24), a double-minded person is unstable in all their ways (Jas 1:8), and a fountain does not send forth sweet water and bitter from the same opening (Jas 3:11). Mixing the world's supply with Christ's living water does not enrich the mixture — it dilutes, then replaces, the true source. Israel was challenged, "How long will you halt between two opinions?" (1 Kgs 18:21), and the lukewarm church learned that a blended allegiance made their witness fit to be spewed out (Rev 3:15-16). Half-measures are not a compromise but a collapse: the moment we supplement God's well with the world's supply, we have quietly stopped trusting God and started serving our own desires.

What nourishes my spirit and is the source of my inner strength? Am I 'drinking' the life-giving water which Christ gives, or do I run after the illusion of abundant life that the world portrays? We must be discerning, for Satan tries to disguise his tactics; this master of deception has "wolves in sheep's clothing" who are out to destroy those not walking closely with Jesus, the great Shepherd (Mt 7:15). The fruit that appears reveals whether the source is God or Satan (Mt 7:20).

Ultimately there are only two sources to receive from – God or Satan

Guard the Heart, Watch the Outflow

The Bible says, from within, 'out of the heart', the mouth speaks, so we are to guard and monitor what we deposit and store in the inner being, as this will manifest itself and flavour all that comes out (Prov 4:23; Mt 12:34-35). Do I draw from the true fountain of life (Isa 12:3)? Jesus said the water He gives will be as eternal life, ministering to, but also flowing out of, the inner-most being of those who believe in Him, refreshing wherever it goes (Jn 7:38).

Am I a clean channel through which His life pours forth to bless people? Carefully compare the teaching you expose yourself to with the Bible's standard; what we accept forms our beliefs and mindset (Act 17:11).

What the heart stores, the life will pour out

God's Inexhaustible Supply and His Word

"My God will meet all your need according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus", for He has an abundant supply (2 Cor 9:8; Phil 4:19). "For from God and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory for ever!" (Rom 11:36).

His creative and sustaining power is the origin of all that is good and desirable, with Jesus the exclusive source of spiritual life and salvation, available only to those who obey Him (Jn 14:6; Act 4:12; Heb 5:9).

We can't exhaust the infinite divine supply

The Bible must be the source of a Christian's morality; otherwise the carnality of the human heart and the consensus of changing cultural norms results in "everyone doing what is right in their own eyes", an approach that moves ever further from God's values (Jdg 17:6; Rom 1:19,28,32, 2:5; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:21).

When humanity ignores the Word of God (the divine revelation of how we are to live) and their conscience (the inner policeman), they deteriorate and become agents of Satan. Even without a knowledge of God's guidelines we intuitively know God's law, based on the fact that we were created in His image and He wrote His law on our hearts (Rom 2:15).

Reflection and Application:

Ask daily which well I am drinking from — Christ's living water or the world's illusion of abundance.
Continually monitor my source — compare every teaching I accept with the Bible's standard.
Test the fruit of my life — it reveals whether God or Satan is the true source.
Bring every need to God, whose glorious supply in Christ can never be exhausted.