Royalty and Ruin

The Lord Still Heals the Bitter Springs

In casting salt into the bitter spring, Elisha taught the same spiritual lesson that the Savior gave centuries later when He declared, “You are the salt of the earth.” Matthew 5:13. Salt mingling with the polluted spring purified its waters. When God compares His children to salt, He is teaching them that He wants them to become agents in saving others, that through them the world may receive the grace that brings salvation. RR 84.6

The world needs to see genuine, sincere Christianity. The poison of sin is at work at the heart of society. Cities and towns are deep in moral corruption, suffering, and evil. People in poverty and distress are weighed down with guilt and are dying for lack of a saving influence. The gospel of truth is kept before them, yet they die because those who should be a fragrance of life to them are a stench of death. Their souls drink in bitterness because the springs are poisoned. RR 85.1

Salt must be mingled with the substance to which it is added; it must penetrate and infuse it, so that the food may be preserved. Similarly, the saving power of the gospel reaches people through personal association. Personal influence is a power to work with the influence of Christ, to lift where Christ lifts, to instill correct principles, and to halt the progress of the world’s corruption. This influence is to uplift, to sweeten the lives of others by uniting a pure example with faith and love. RR 85.2

The polluted stream at Jericho represents the life of those who are apart from God. Sin destroys in the human soul both the desire and the ability to know God. The whole human organism is deranged, the mind perverted, the imagination corrupted. For lack of moral force to overcome, the life is debased. RR 85.3

But to the heart that God has purified, all is changed. The Spirit of God produces a new life in the soul, bringing the thoughts and desires into obedience to the will of Christ and renewing the inward being in the image of God. Weak and erring men and women show to the world that the redeeming power of grace can change a faulty character to one that is well-developed and fruitful. RR 85.4

The heart that receives the word of God is not like a broken water bottle that loses it treasure; it is like the mountain stream, fed by unfailing springs, whose sparkling waters refresh the weary, the thirsty, the heavily-burdened. It is like a river that constantly flows and, as it advances, becomes deeper and wider, until its life-giving waters spread over all the earth. The stream leaves its gift of fruitfulness behind it. When the earth lies bare and brown under summer’s scorching heat, a line of green marks the river’s course. RR 85.5

This is how it is with the true child of God. When we open our hearts to the heavenly influence of truth and love, these principles will flow out like streams in the desert, making things fruitful where now they are barren and dry. RR 85.6

Those who have been cleansed through a knowledge of Bible truth will drink every day from the inexhaustible fountain of grace and knowledge. They will find that their own hearts are filled to overflowing with the Spirit of their Master; and through their unselfish ministry many will benefit physically, mentally, and spiritually. The weary are refreshed, the sick restored to health, and the sin-burdened relieved. RR 85.7

“Give, and it will be given to you,” for the word of God is “a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.” Luke 6:38; Song of Solomon 4:15. RR 86.1