One can hardly begin to write about the wonders of water.  Saltwater and freshwater cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, and its pollution is a significant headache for environmental experts.  Access to fresh, clean water is one of the basic requirements of life.  We can’t do without it, and anyone who has ever had water supply problems will know just how inconvenient it can be because of its impact on so many aspects of our daily lives.

For a large part of my primary school career, we lived on a farm deep in the mountains.  It was a marvel and great advantage that all the water for personal use came from springs on our own land.  This made securing water sources against pollution easier.  My father identified and fenced off the springs so that neither people nor animals could get near them.  I can still vividly remember the sweet, pure taste of farm water.  We didn’t need any extra hair treatments if we washed our hair with homemade soap and spring water.

Years later, on the recommendation of a restaurant there, I drank a glass of sweet water from the clear stream in a botanical garden near the Southern coast.  It was an experience that stayed with me.

I always think of that sweet water of my life when I read that our words are the fountain of our inner being.

James (3) talks about what we utter with words from our lips when he makes a statement about perfection.  Someone who does not stumble in what they say is a perfect person, able also to bridle their whole body.  A horse has a bit to enforce obedience and a ship has a small rudder so that the helmsman can navigate the wind and sea.  Similarly, the tongue is a small part of the body that wields great power.

He uses the metaphor of water, just as Jesus did, to describe sweet and bitter water from fountains.  Bad water cannot come from a sweet water fountain.  A fountain yields only one kind of water.  It is a powerful description of revealing the inner person.

No one will know what is going on inside you if you don’t open your mouth. So, when you speak, what comes out?

Pythagoras, the great mathematician, said, “A fool is known by his speech, and a wise man by silence.”

The words of fools start quarrels. They make people want to beat them. The words of fools will ruin them; their own words will trap them.   (Proverbs 18:6,7)

Ecclesiastes says many words lead to foolishness. (5:3)

Words have a source – the inner person.  The source must be protected from pollution, just like natural springs, so that the water remains pure and reliable.

Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?  (James 3:11)

There is only one way to protect our word-fountain, and that is to rely on Jesus’ promise.

³⁷ On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸ He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  (John 7:37,38)

The Church of Jesus is the bastion against evil in this world.  This is particularly evident in what we say.  We speak the language of the Kingdom. The “language” of the Kingdom is the Word – full of hope and salvation.  We cannot fall into gossip about celebrities, or doom prophecies of political chaos, or public judgment about wars and the cruelty of conflict. We must speak words of light and life.

 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. 

⁶ Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.  (Colossians 4:5,6)

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.   (Matthew 5:13)

Are your words an offering before God in the Kingdom? Season them with salt. They must be flavourful.

When you offer them before the Lord, the priests shall throw salt on them, and they will offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord.  (Ezekiel 43:24)

If we are the salt, we will “heal” the world with our words and deeds. That is our job. We cannot afford to get caught up in all kinds of useless chatter, especially not the traps of opinions created by modern media.

Let us protect the source of our words and “fence” our fountain so that we address the world and everyone around us from a source of hope and love.

Let us “heal” the “water” in our world, the everyday, life-giving substance that we all need.

Then he went out to the source of the water, and cast in the salt there, and said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘I have healed this water; from it there shall be no more death or barrenness.’ ” ²² So the water remains healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.  (2 Kings 2:21,22)