Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"
- John 7:37-38, ESV
I played baseball in high school. We had a pretty talented team, but by no means were we "big." We didn't have a team full of those "farm boys" that sprung up in more rural areas of West Virginia.
Some teams we played were full of those big "farm boys." Their moms definitely fed them their Wheaties for breakfast, a whole jar of peanut butter for lunch, their spinach for dinner, and a side of beef for Fourth Meal (Sorry, Taco Bell, these boys eat real meat). In between, they baled hay and laid bricks and pulled a plow and tamed oxen and probably would've wrestled with alligators if there would've been any around. (I don't think alligators - or any normal living thing, for that matter - could survive in the Kanawha River.)
That's how those boys are raised around there - big. "There must be something in the water," someone might say.
Keep that in mind, while I shift gears for a little bit. (Cheap transition - I'm tired, feeling lazy, and it's been forever since I last blogged and I want to finish this tonight...basically, I just don't feel like coming up with a better transition.)
So...
Living for Christ is a daily battle.
Some days we feel strong, other days we feel weak. Some days our shields are protecting us against the Enemy, some days we wield the sword particularly well; other days we feel weary and fall asleep while on watch duty, allowing Satan to sneak up on us unnoticed.
A lot of times, we let down our guard as a result of a thought - a thought that, if not taken captive (see "Hostage Situation") will run amok and will lead to sinful action.
The fact is, our sinful desires run deep. They are a part of us. They course through our veins like our very lifeblood. We are smitten with sin, and the pleasure (momentary as it may be) with which it provides us. And so we live lives chasing after sex, drugs, alcohol, pornography...
When we do these things, we are trying to fill ourselves up apart from Christ. We are seeking fulfillment from other sources.
But we're drawing from polluted wells.
Not only that, but this only temporarily restrains our thirst; sinful satisfaction is short-lived. That's because our carnal desires, by their very nature, cannot be satisfied by earthly things. When we attempt to fill ourselves with something other than Christ, we're not making ourselves full - we're punching holes in the bottom of the pitcher (which is rather counterproductive).
Only when we fill ourselves up with Christ can we truly be filled - forever.When I'm tempted, if I seek the face of Christ and draw from His well, then and only then will my thirst be quenched.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6, NIV)
To change to a different metaphor: giving into temptation won't quell the fire. If I am fixated on a desire, I must realize that I cannot quell the fire of it on my own.
If I try using some earthly thing to evade a certain temptation, then I am only delaying the inevitable - at some point I will be left still wanting more, and I will, predictably, give in to my temptation.
Why is that?
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:4, NIV)
I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands. (Psalm 119:131, NIV)
French philosopher, mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal said: 'There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.'
Without Christ we cannot live spiritually. By turning to Him, by drinking from His well, we are alive - and we never have to thirst again.
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this 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, NIV)
But when we get that itch in the back of our throat, when our sinful nature starts to tell us that we want a taste of that other stuff (whatever that "other stuff" may be for us), if we turn to prayer and Scripture, if we earnestly seek Christ to deliver us, we will always be filled - with no room for anything else.
The lost chase after these things because they don't know fulfillment.
Christians are by no means perfect - but we should not be chasing after these things to fill us up when the living water is at hand. We as Christians know the truth, we know how to be filled. And yet so many other people are oblivious to it, unaware that they can never be filled with alcohol or drugs or whatever, no matter how much of it they consume.
The only thing that can truly fill us isn't our girlfriend/boyfriend, it isn't vodka or bourbon, it isn't methamphetamine or marijuana. But many people - sadly - don't know that, so it's our job as Christians to tell them. And the best way to begin to tell them is by showing them.
Drink from Christ's well, and let his living water transform you.
Is there something in the water?
Oh, there definitely is.
Isaiah 55 (NIV):
Invitation to the Thirsty
1 “Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.”
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the LORD’s renown,
for an everlasting sign,
that will endure forever.”
