1st June 2022
The waterwheel
… that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man…
Ephesians 3:16 (NKJV)
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
James 2:26 (NKJV)
The Krimml Waterfalls have a total height of 380 metres (1,247 feet) and are the highest falls in Austria. These falls are on the Krimmler Ache river and are located near the village of Krimml in the High Tauern National Park in Salzburg state. Nearly half a million tourists go there annually.
Our family visited the Krimml Waterfalls a number of years ago and they certainly were spectacular. I soon noticed a feeder river joining the falls to the right of the basin and something there caught my eye.
An Austrian carpenter had made a small waterwheel and a life-size man, both made out of wood and carefully coloured. The man seemed to be pumping the water in a rather clever way, pushing up and down, and round and round went the little wheel. For all the world it looked like the wooden man was doing all the pumping, allowing the water to flow.
This was, of course, an illusion. It wasn’t the wooden man turning the handle on the wheel at all; it was the force of the flowing water which was doing all the work.
There is an illustration here.
In the past, I had the mistaken concept that the Holy Spirit was a source of power available for me to ‘use’, with my own effort, to produce good works. But it’s the other way round, isn’t it? It is the Holy Spirit who is at work, in us and through us, as we submit ourselves to him. It is God, the Holy Spirit, who produces the good fruit in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23), and we are the recipients of his grace.
So when I think of that river, I am reminded that, although we, as Christians, are called to bear fruit for God (John 15:16), it is we who are his workmanship ‘created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them’ (Ephesians 2:10 KJV).
Prayer
Thank you Father for helping us get things the right way round. It’s all about You, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and not about us, but we are the most willing recipients of your grace, for which we thank you so much. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Study by Tony Goudie
About the writer:
Tony Goudie is the Pastor of the Essex congregation of Grace Communion International
Local congregation:
GCI Essex
Beaulieu Community Centre
Beaulieu Square
Centenary Way
Chelmsford
CM1 6AU
Meeting time:
Saturday 1pm
Local congregational contact:
Tony Goudie
essex@gracecom.church
John Radley
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church