I don’t know about you, but I love pop. While I’ve switched to drinking mostly water (and coffee) these days, I still love pop. All of it is good, but my favorite by far is Mountain Dew. It is full of sugar and caffeine, and isn’t very carbonated so I can drink it without feeling like I’m going to explode!
There is only one problem with drinking pop. It doesn’t quench my thirst. It takes great while I’m drinking it, but I end up being thirsty again in an hour.
In the first message in our Lenten Outflow series, Pastor Terry talked about Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:1-19. In the course of this conversation, Jesus gives the woman a peculiar promise:
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this (well) water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." – John 4:13-14
He said something similar to a group of people some time later:
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. – John 6:35
Jesus said that He could provide something that would make us never hunger or thirst again. Never. Ever. Obviously, Jesus is not speaking literally in these cases, so what did He mean? Dictionary.com defines both thirst and hunger as "a strong or compelling desire or craving".
Let me suggest that Jesus was saying that He can give us something that permanently eliminates our craving for things that only satisfy for a little while. He can give us something that ultimately satisfies our instinct to be filled up. That something is not bread or water (or pop)…it is Him.
God does not promise an easy life in the traditional sense. Life on this earth will always include disappointment, disease, poverty, jealously, hatred and wars. But in the midst of all of that, Jesus offers peace…His peace.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. – John 14:27
That peace is available to all who trust in Him as their Lord and Savior (John 1:12). That peace will be made more and more clear to all who learn to abide in Him (John 15:1-11). Ultimately, that peace will end up overflowing to those around us (John 7:37-38), and it is that overflowing life that is the focus of this Outflow series.
What about you? Are you still thirsty?
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KellySueLew says:
March 3, 2009 at 2:32 pm (UTC -5 )
It’s funny, because as I read this I was also prepping for this week’s worship set. We are doing the song “Enough:”
“All of You is more than enough for
all of me, for every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
and all I have in You is more than enough….”
I was thinking that it will be a sacrifice of praise to try and sing that with my whole heart, because I have felt spiritually dry and empty lately. I want Him to be enough, but it hasn’t felt like that to me. I want to not give up and to keep singing and praying and asking Him to fulfill my needs and satisfy me. I hope for all of us that read Tom’s devotional that when we sing the song Enough this Sunday, it will have precious meaning for us.
Top Five Posts | Run in Such a Way... says:
October 20, 2009 at 7:48 pm (UTC -5 )
[...] Thirsty? – Life on this earth will always include disappointment, disease, poverty, jealously, hatred and wars. But in the midst of all of that, Jesus offers peace…His peace. [...]