Four Questions Every Christian Should Answer

As Christians, often we think about our relationship with God being just about us, but it isn’t.  Each of us is like a fountain.  God is the water that flows through us and out.  Every one of us has many people – family, friends and co-workers – that come to drink out of our pool.  We can’t pretend like our walk with God only belongs to us anymore, because it doesn’t.  It impacts a lot of other people (even if we don’t want it to).  Some questions worth answering:

1. What’s the quality of the water in my pool? If we are thriving in our relationship with God, our pool will be filled with fresh, life-giving water.  But if we are experiencing relational stagnation with God, that’s what others will drink from our pool – stagnate water.  Or if sin is permeating our life, those contaminants will seep into the waters and spread to others who drink.
2. Who drinks from my pool? Each of us influences lots of others.  I’d bet that the list is considerably larger than you might imagine.  Here’s a great exercise.  Go through the last week of your life, day by day.  Make a list of everybody who interacted with you in any way.  That person drank from your pool, whether you wanted them to or not.  Include all your cyberfriends – those who read your posts, updates, and tweets.  All those people are drinking from your pool.
3. From whose pool do I drink? Made in God’s image, we were created to be people of community.  God designed us to do life together, and that includes drinking from each others’ pool.  God uses our relationships to bless us, to refresh and renew us.  Technology is making it easier than ever to drink from others’ pool, through vehicles such as Facebook, Twitter, blogging, podcasts and videos.  The good news is that each of us get to choose from whose pool we drink.
4. Is God calling me to make changes? Maybe God is using your answers to the previous questions to stir you to change.  Perhaps He’s calling you to improve the quality of the water in your pool.  Or perhaps He’s calling you to increase your pool’s reach.  Or possibly He’s prompting you to use a greater degree of intentionality in your choice of where you’re going to drink.