Taoism, from the writings rather than popular practice, has at its core the ideal that people respond to life as water flows over the ground. Jesus' words indicate that we are to be devoted to Him, and the effects of that devotion will flow around us like constant streams of water. There is a perspective gained by stepping back another layer or elevation and looking again at what I'm doing where. Sometimes I am the water, sometimes I am the devotee. The difference is effectiveness in the lives of others.
The principles of Taoism sound great, aren't evil or bad, appear to enable people to respond to bad circumstances peacefully, and seem to make a degree of sense out of a confusing world. The limiting factor with this belief system is the same as with so many others: it doesn't look beyond this creation to the Creator. One underlying assumption is that the Cause of the universe is unknowable. In reality that is true to a degree, but that is the reason He reveals Himself to His human creatures. The failure of the peaceful belief system of Taoism is that it looks no further than this place or life.
So, once I look beyond this planet and universe to the Maker, then I can follow Taoist principles to live out my life? No, not really. Whenever I assume that the Maker is unknowable, it falls on me to manage my life. So following a system with that underlying assumption is inconsistent with looking to my Master. The irony is that the results might look similar to outsiders. The peace sought by practicing Taoism is exceeded by following Jesus, and submitting to His Spirit. Like philosophy developed in Greece, these principles of Taoism seek for answers no further than the person.
Chambers uses again one of those powerful verses that sneak right by me. In John 7, Jesus is speaking with an outcast Samaritan woman at a well in Samaria. She was a Samaritan which put her outside the conversational circles of Jewish life; she was there in the heat of the day which put her outside the local social circle; and she was drawing water herself which put her on the lower economic level. Jesus asks her for water, but in the ensuing conversation says that "He that believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'"
Starting with her need and constant work for water, Jesus offers fulfillment of the greater desire of her heart, acceptance and value. He says that she can be the source of living streams of water: Accepted by God and useful to Him as a spring. That did not describe her circumstances at the moment. She was not accepted in her community, and no one seemed to find her useful, until Jesus came. Part of this view is imposing my own needs on a Bible character, and so it is partly transference on my part. But she was not accepted, that much is true. Usefulness is a question, but I doubt she was considered useful in the ways she wanted to be.
For my own application, the question challenging me is, "will I allow my Master to create this spring in me?" Chambers points out that the effects of rivers are not obvious nor easy to follow, often happen far from the source, but always overcome obstacles; bad news, good news. I can't measure my effectiveness. I can't make a measurable goal of being this river source. In effect, I am protected from becoming focused on the effect and free to focus on my Master. That ensures the river will flow in a living fashion. I won't know the effect until later, until I am before the throne of my Master.
That I can't measure or know the effects until I see my Master face to face may sound harsh, but it's not. The river belongs to my Master, not me. So the effects are His not mine. He gets credit for what happens, not me. What I will see later is what my Master was able to do through me; through my submission to Him. It won't be what I did, or the effects of what I was able to accomplish. One of the things I must keep in my consciousness is that this is not about me. Another is that this is not about others I share this planet with. This life is about God, Who, in Christ, is reconciling this world to Himself.
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