Rental homes . . . Sometimes they’re a pain! During a long stretch cold weather we were having, I had problems with a rental home of mine. I received a call from a tenant letting me know that the drain in the bathtub of her house had frozen up.

When I got there, I crawled under the house and began to get it thawed out with a hair drier. After quite some time I was able to get the drain to work. I then had to clean the tub out.  When I turned the shower on  . . . no shower.  Eek . . . The pipes were frozen.  Though I would have preferred a different illustration, I guess it’s good that the freeze up could serve a higher purpose.

When I walked into the bathroom, the shower in the tub looked like . . . Well it looked like a shower in a tub. In fact, as far showers go, it looked pretty good in that, the whole thing was new.  The handles were bright and shiny; the chrome wasn’t spotted all . . . The shower head was clean and moved freely.  Everything shouted, “This is a shower . . . A nice shower!”, until I turned the shower on . . . The water didn’t work.  Lots of good that was.  When that situation came to mind, the passage I was reading became alive.

Almost like a Dr. Seuss line, I realized that “A shower is not a shower unless it showers.” How elementary is that? No matter what it may look like or even where it may be found, until a shower showers, it’s only a fixture.  The fact that the label on the package says “Shower” . . . or even that it came from a shower factory . . . Only what it does will confirms that it truly is a shower.

Like that shower, in the book of John, John is letting his listeners know that their heritage does not give them proper standing before God. Only their actions will confirm their relationship with the Creator God.

That same principle is also true regarding my position in Christ. I am a child of God’s, not because I have uttered some words in a prayer . . . . without any real conviction . . . Rather, I am only a child of God’s when living water flows from me.

My sincere faith is seen when I step in and allow the “Shower” of God to do what it is designed to do . . . clean me . . . My change will be evident . . . There will be no need to ask, “Did you take a shower?”  The contrast will be evident. If I am no cleaner than when I stepped into the shower, I can be sure that something is  wrong. My life needs to change! If a “clean-up” is not taking place, the words, “I’m Yours God”, I uttered mean absolutely nothing . . . My faith is all wet.

Lord Help me to confirm what I believe by allowing the power of the living water to clean me.  I need to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance”, to be an authentic follower of Christ.

Luke 3:2 . . . The word of God came to John in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins . . .

7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  (biblegateway.com, ESV)

More than just a believer in God, I need to be a follower of Jesus!