TALK FIFTY-EIGHT. SPONGES AND WATERING-CANS
It was Jesus’ custom to draw spiritual lessons from the things surrounding him and by some similitude impress upon his hearers a profitable truth; so we may get many valuable thoughts from the simple things of every-day life. The articles mentioned in the heading bring to my mind pictures of two classes of people.
The most noticeable feature of a sponge is its power of absorbing a liquid and retaining it within itself. If dipped in or placed in contact with a liquid, it will absorb several times its weight. Some people are like sponges. They go to meeting and drink in the truth time after time. They love it. It delights their hearts. They love the singing, the preaching, the testimonies, and the prayers. They absorb and absorb, but, like the sponge, they give out nothing. The sponge gives up what it has taken in only when it is subjected to pressure. So it is with these human sponges. While they love to listen, they have to be urged to do anything. They testify only when they feel duty-bound to do so or when they are urged by somebody else. They rarely pray in meeting. They are among the last in all such things. To go where a congregation are mostly sponges is to find a few having all to do and to find a dull, insipid meeting. Wet sponges will not burn. Neither will the fire of God burn in a congregation of sponges. A preacher may be full of fire, but he can not set sponges burning. Do you have to be urged to testify? Are you ready to pray or do whatever you can in the meeting? Do you love to talk to people about salvation? or do you speak of it only when some one else starts the conversation? Do you have to be constantly urged to do your duty? Are you a sponge?
A watering-can is different. It too will take in to its full capacity; but, as soon as it is turned in the right position, it freely gives out again. Streams of cooling, refreshing water fall on the thirsty plants. The drooping flowers raise again their heads to blush in beauty, and their fragrance floats out on the balmy air once more. A delicious coolness surrounds the place, and we delight to be there. While the sponge represents the selfish class, the watering-can represents the open-hearted, cheerful giver—one who is ready to pass on the good things and who in return reaps the promise, “He that watereth shall be watered also himself.” If the watering-can is emptied, does not the gardener fill it again, and with fresh water? So, if we are pouring out to others, we shall be filled anew. We shall not be empty, but fresh and rich in our souls with the water of life. The great Gardener fills us that we may pour out to others, not simply that we may be filled ourselves. It is said of Jesus that he “emptied himself” (Revised Version.) He became poor that through his poverty we should be made rich.