“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” John 7: 37b-38, NKJV
I read once of a man stranded in the open sea, surrounded by water and dying of thirst. His weakened and cramping body was about to collapse and he played on the edges of consciousness. His lips were parched and he was hallucinating. His stomach was in knots and though in the blistering sun he had begun to feel chilled…. There was only one thing he wanted – only one thing he longed for: water. He had no interest in watching television, no desire for mindless entertainment, or amusement. He was not daydreaming about his many possessions back home or fantasizing about his retirement portfolio. He was not wondering about his favorite sports team or longing to hear one of his favorite songs. Only one thing occupied his tattered heart, mind and emotions: water! He had to have water. He was literally dying for water, for one cool refreshing drink, and until he received it, nothing else mattered…. All had faded before this singular desire, before this desperate longing of his heart: water.
In our culture there is no end to those things which we claim can satisfy – that we would use to quench our thirst: money, power, sex, drugs and alcohol, the arts, sports, family, career, school, the internet, even the Church … and we drink deeply of them, often to excess, only to thirst again or worse, to thirst even more. So, we begin to grow weak … desperate. Suddenly, we need more to produce the same feelings of satisfaction, but more fails to relieve our tattered hearts, minds, and emotions. We find that we are stranded in the open sea of our culture, surrounded by water and dying of thirst. “Water, water, everywhere,” the old idiom proclaims, “and yet not a drop to drink!” We are thirsting, but often we fail to see the water which will truly satisfy – the water from which we can drink deeply and find ourselves renewed, refreshed, even redeemed. Inundated as we are with “energy” drinks and pop, iced coffees and lattes, fruit concoctions and “fortified” water, it is difficult to distinguish the real thing from all of the fads. In effect, we have a tendency to lose that which we most need among the myriad of choices that consume us. And yet, the yearning of our parched and fragmented spirits remains the same: water – real, life-giving, soul-refreshing, thirst-quenching, living water.
I have been that man, stranded on the open sea of this world, surrounded by water and dying of thirst. I have experienced seasons in which I have become bone dry, cracked and broken, like the desert floor – seasons when I have wandered from the life-giving and life-sustaining oasis and found myself not only in want, but in great need. And, in those times, I long, not for the things of this world, but for one thing alone: Water…. Unfortunately, I have noticed that as time presses on I have built up a tolerance for such dry seasons and my longing for water – my desperate need for it – is not so all-encompassing as it once was. I am learning how to survive on the things my culture supplies … but mere survival is not really living, and I am reminded of One who provides living water that can remove any thirst. “Come to Me,” He is saying. “Drink.” And I want to so badly, but I am afraid – afraid to give up what I have known and what I have tried so hard to convince myself I have; afraid to stop the hallucinations (the false realities) of money and power, career and family, sex and the internet, and even the Church that I have clung to and in which I have placed my hope. I am afraid that this living water really will change me – that if all fades before this singular Desire, before this desperate longing of my heart – I will be asked to respond, to rise up and walk, to really love … even to share the living water I have received. And, so, armed with the knowledge that it satisfies – really Satisfies! – I still resist. “Lord, I believe,” I want to cry. “Help my unbelief” (Mark 9: 24b, NKJV)
Are you thirsting? Come to the Waters! Do you tire of the “fad drinks” that fail to satisfy? Then, receive the cup of Christ! It is easy to become shipwrecked – to lose our way; to get caught in our culture, but our culture is merely a mirage. The real thing remains, not hidden, but rarely sought – an oasis of living water so refreshing it makes all things new. Are you desperate for it? Then turn – turn back? … turn again? … turn for the first time? – to Jesus and drink. Only He can satisfy…. Drink deeply and know that He is good!
In Christ,
Pastor Todd
