I first noticed it one day when I was mowing the lawn - a little dent in the ground. Over a few weeks, that little dent became a growing sinkhole. The ground was literally collapsing. I asked a neighbor, who was an amateur "sinkholeologist," what caused this phenomenon. He told me it was the drought of rainfall that we had been having. He said an underground spring had probably dried up. And that dried up the ground, and the roots above it - and my yard fell in.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "The Underground Spring."
Now, when the ground collapses, it can be because the spring underneath has dried up. That might be happening to you.
Our word for today from the Word of God, John 7:37. "Jesus said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.' By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive." And they did on the Day of Pentecost, as have all God's children since then, when they opened their hearts to Christ.
Now, Jesus said He has put this bubbling source of life inside every believer. And as long as the Spirit-stream is running strong, you'll be healthy all the way through. But there are a lot of spiritual sinkholes developing in believers' lives these days. We all know someone who's collapsed, and it could be any of us if we neglect the underground spring.
Collapses don't really happen suddenly, in my yard or in my life or your life. There's a gradual slowing of the "spiritual spring" in your heart, a drying up. Then the drying of the ground - and then one day, suddenly - but not really suddenly - the collapse.
The point? We have to keep fresh water flowing into our Spirit-stream! There is no shortcut to spiritual strength. It's the product of consistent, day-after-day time spent with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's that time when you come to your Lord with an open Bible, open hands to receive what He is ready to give you and to release the sin of the last 24 hours, an open heart, to let Him plant there what He wants to plant, an open mouth, to pour out your praise and your heart to Him, an open mind, to let Him help you think His thoughts about your day and your relationships.
But we get busy or lazy. We try to get by with a sprinkling from the outside - whatever we can soak up from Christian radio, Christian TV, church, youth group, Bible study group. But it's not enough to nurture the spring inside. You are what you are because of personal, one-on-one time with the Lord, or because of the absence of it. It's the accumulated inner growth of days spent with Jesus that become weeks with Jesus, then Jesus-months, and, ultimately, Jesus-years. There's no way to rush that process or to get a spiritual rush to make up for neglecting it. It's possible that you're drying up inside without even knowing it. There have been just too many days without feeding the Spirit-spring inside you. You can't have any of those days back, but you can start building it up today. You need to be feeding that spring that supports your soul. If you don't, well, you're destined for a collapse.
After all, it isn't the spiritual activity that men see that holds you up - it's those daily, intimate times with Jesus that only you can see and He can see. But then, it's what underground that counts.