The River That Runs Downhill

Water always seeks the lowest place. It never climbs upward on its own. From mountain snowmelt to valley stream to ocean floor, water pours itself out in one direction — down. And yet this downward journey is precisely what makes water the most life-giving substance on earth. The Nile's annual flooding enriched Egyptian farmland for millennia. The Columbia River carved channels that sustain salmon runs feeding entire ecosystems along the Pacific Northwest. Water gives life not by rising above everything else, but by descending into the lowest, driest, most desperate places.

Jesus understood this principle better than any hydrologist. In Mark 10:45, He told His disciples, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." The King of Kings chose the downward path. He left the heights of glory and poured Himself into the lowest places of human suffering — a borrowed manger, a dusty roadside with lepers, a criminal's cross.

His disciples were jockeying for thrones. He was headed for a basin and towel.

Every river that nourishes a valley first had to leave the mountain. Every aquifer that sustains a city first had to sink deep underground. And the Son of God, who held all authority in heaven and earth, gave life to the world by pouring Himself out completely. The Almighty became a servant, and in that downward flood, He ransomed us all.