Water for our Thirsty Souls
A few years ago, in Cabo San Lucas, Bryson, my youngest grandson, and I were sitting on the deck overlooking the Sea of Cortez. We were talking about a recent and devastating tsunami.
He asks me: “What is it that you can’t live without, but it can also kill you?”
My “thinker” kicked in and I said: “WATER!”
He pondered out loud: “Wonder what it feels like to be drowning.”
Me: “Have you ever been stuck under water and couldn’t get a breath?”
Without hesitation, Bryson replies: “Oh, yes, it’s called brothers!”
Oh, me!
Most importantly, we can’t live for long without water. It is crucial to help our brains think, blood to flow, and our muscles to move. What happens if we ignore our thirst?
Dehydration. It depends on how much we’re exercising, the temperature around us, and how much we sweat, but it can quickly get dangerous.
Most everywhere I am, you’ll see me carrying my bottle or a mug full of water. No matter if it comes from a bottle with a brand name or our refrigerator’s water dispenser, water can improve our physical health. But, it can’t give us peace and joy.
Jesus brought a whole new meaning to water. It is essential in the natural and it is essential in the spiritual. In John 4:5-42, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman. Referring to Jacob’s well, Jesus says: “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again.” He was referring to every well, stream, lake and source of fresh liquid water.
To the woman and to you and me, Jesus speaks about the real, true fountain of “youth” (the joy and peace that springs up from within) by saying, “Whoever drinks of the water that I give, you will never thirst. The water that I give will become a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14) Jesus calls it Living Water.
Unlike convenience stores’ bottled water, we can’t buy the Living Water of the Holy Spirit. Something more is required. That something is becoming clean and pure by the cleansing of the Holy Spirit. We put so much emphasis on keeping things clean in our homes. We wash everything: our clothes, dishes, floors, hands, and bodies. It isn’t enough for that water to get purified at the water treatment plant. It must be filtered and purified again.
The question to ask ourselves is: “Do I give as much attention to the cleansing of my soul as I do my body?”
Like the scene of the woman and Jesus at Jacob’s well, maybe our well is represented by our church or a small group or in our daily devotions – the places to go to encounter Christ and drink of the Living Water of the Holy Spirit.
When we come to Jesus to drink, we don’t get just a single drink. We get Jesus. Rivers of water will flow because the River-Maker is in us. That’s the point. We will never have to search again for a source of satisfaction for our soul. When we come to Him, we get Him. And He never leaves.
We shouldn’t be fooled by those cheap imitations in fancy brand-named bottles to quench the thirst of our souls. Nothing compares to drinking at the Springs of Living Water that only Jesus can provide!
Isaiah 44:3 “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.”