I have always known that God blesses us so we can bless others. For most of my long life as a Christian, I have pictured myself as a funnel; receiving God’s love, blessings and encouragement through the wide end and passing them on to others through the small end. I have even written about the importance of keeping that funnel tip open; comparing an open funnel and closed one to the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea has no outlet so it can’t take in fresh water and there is no life in it as a result. When we close the tip of our funnel in an effort to keep it all for ourselves, like manna from heaven those blessings become stagnant and useless. The Sea of Galilee does have an outlet so it is continually replenished with fresh water and is abundantly stocked with all kinds of fish. As we pass God’s gifts on to others, we receive fresh blessings accordingly.
I have had what some might call an epiphany – the awesome realization of a truth that I previously overlooked. I now believe my view of the Christian life as a funnel is from a human perspective that selfishly seeks to keep most of the love, blessings and encouragement for myself while still passing some of it on to others. As is often the case, our human perspective gets thing turned around. God is showing me a different perspective – His perspective. We can’t see anything from God’s perspective, but the Holy Spirit within us does and will show us if we pay attention to His guidance.
There are two other types of Christian lives that please God even more. One is like a pipeline connected to God’s bountiful source on one end and pouring out His love, blessings and encouragement to others from the other end. That kind of life stays full as God’s gifts and blessings continually pass through without end or opportunity to become stagnant.
Imagine with me for a moment another kind of Christian life where the funnel is turned upside down with the tip attached to a conduit from God’s endless supply. As God’s love, blessings and encouragement quickly pass through to others, the pressure increases to try to fill that wide open void. What was a trickling funnel or flowing pipeline is now a powerful shower head soaking everyone around with love, blessings and encouragement from God. We never have to worry about becoming empty because we can never out bless our heavenly Father.
Whichever type of Christian life we lead, the most important thing is our connection to God, the source of all good things. Prayer and the study of His word every day will keep that life line open and flowing into and through us.