Where Does Life Flow Out of You?

There is a place where the life of Christ begins to flow effortlessly through you.

One of the recurring themes throughout Soul Weathered is becoming the man God created you to be.

Not the man the world tells you to become.

Not the man your fears have shaped.

Not even the man you think you ought to be.

The man God imagined when He created you.

For years, I wondered what that really looked like.

How do you become that man?

How do you move beyond simply believing in Christ to actually living His life?

Jesus gave us two great commandments.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Simple.

Beautiful.

Impossible...

unless God changes us from the inside out.

The Christian life isn't simply trying harder.

It's not adopting better behavior.

It's not checking more spiritual boxes.

It's learning to walk so closely with Christ that His life begins flowing through ours.

I've discovered something over the years.

There are places where that life seems to flow almost effortlessly.

Not because we're perfect.

But because we're becoming who God created us to be.

I've watched this in my wife for years.

Put her around children.

Or elderly neighbors.

Or in a classroom.

Something comes alive.

She doesn't force kindness.

She doesn't manufacture compassion.

It simply flows out of her.

For me...

that place has often been the wilderness.

Standing in a trout stream.

Leading men through the mountains.

Sitting around a campfire.

Somewhere along the trail, I stop thinking so much about myself.

I become fully engaged in serving the people around me.

Encouraging.

Teaching.

Listening.

Guiding.

Out there, following Christ feels remarkably natural.

I have another friend who is like that with people.

Watch him walk into a room.

Watch him greet someone.

Watch him encourage them.

It isn't rehearsed.

It isn't calculated.

Christ simply seems to flow out of him.

Every time I watch him, I think,

"That's beautiful."

I don't believe those moments happen by accident.

I believe God gives us glimpses of who He created us to be.

Little windows into the life He intended for us all along.

The mistake many of us make is assuming that's the end of the journey.

It's actually the beginning.

Because once you discover where Christ's life flows most naturally through you...

God begins expanding it.

The patience you discover on the trail begins showing up at home.

The compassion you have for strangers begins changing the way you love your family.

The courage you find in one arena begins appearing in another.

What first flowed in one place begins overflowing into every part of your life.

This doesn't happen by accident.

It takes obedience.

It takes stepping into places where God invites us.

Trying.

Serving.

Risking.

Paying attention.

We don't discover who we are by sitting still.

We discover it by walking with Him.

So maybe the question isn't,

"What am I gifted at?"

Maybe the better question is,

"Where does the life of Christ seem to flow most freely through me?"

Because somewhere in answering that question...

you may discover the man God has been shaping all along.

The beautiful thing is this:

God doesn't show us that place so we'll stay there forever.

He shows us that place so the life we discover there begins flowing into every other part of our lives.

That's what maturity looks like.

Not trying harder.

But allowing the life of Christ within us to become the life we naturally live.