steamy story

Yesterday was a long day.  We're at day 21 of Christmas vacation.  The excitement of vacation has long passed and the thrill of new toys has also passed.  Today was the return of the lava monster game in the living room (remember that from when you were a kid?)  It was loud, it was rowdy, it was energy in little bodies bouncing off walls.  We went outside and ran around in the snow, but the energy was still overflowing and it was a loud, long day.

By the kids' bedtime, I was ready for a bath.  A soak in a hot bubbly tub.  "Ah, Calgon take me away!"

I started the tub filling and headed down to grab a couple of unread magazines.  I returned to a very hot bath.  Nearly too hot (if that's possible).  I jumped in and sank into the world of only me.  Quiet.  Slow.  Peaceful.

James popped his head into the bathroom to see where I'd gone off to.  "Wow!" he said.  "Looks like the tub's really, really hot!"

As I looked up from my Cooking Light magazine, I could barely see him standing at the door through the heavy steam in the room.  It clung to the glass mirror and windows.  It was everywhere, even dripping down the tile walls.  James didn't have to feel the water or even have me tell him how hot the water was. He knew the bath was hot because the room was completely filled with steam - the proof of a hot tub.

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Matthew 3:8 "Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God."

Matthew 7:17 "A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.  A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit."

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A hot bath tub produces steam.  A cold tub cannot produce steam.  The bath doesn't have to say it's hot, it doesn't have to be felt for someone to know it's hot.  The presence of steam is the proof of a hot bath.

Likewise, a life in love, in full devotion to Christ and His message will naturally generate "steam" - the proof of a life devoted to God - it will bear fruit.  It doesn't need to say what it's doing, someone doesn't need to see firsthand.  This life proves that it belongs to God, to His work, to His purposes and the evidence is as obvious as steam from a hot bathtub.

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That my life would produce fruit as naturally as a hot bath produces steam.  That I would take such delight in the Word, that I would so deeply love my Savior that the evidence would lie thick around me like steam.  It would cling to mirrors and windows and walls and drip with a testimony of God's grace, mercy, goodness so other's would know of the power of God, who could turn this messy human into a steam factory.  I cannot generate this steam on my own, I cannot squeeze out the good fruit myself. That my heart would be filled with the Holy Spirit and my life would be evidence of Him, that is my prayer.