Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. (John 4:14)
When you read today’s title and the verse from John’s gospel, they might seem to contradict each other, but I promise you that they do not. Read on! I hope you will be greatly encouraged and empowered to be and do all that God is calling you to.
When Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well, He invited her to partake of “living water,” which is a symbol for the Holy Spirit. When Jesus gives us His living water, we are filled to the brim. We are brought out of darkness and into His light. We are raised from death to new life in Christ. We are completely delivered from eternal damnation and granted eternal life. But here’s the catch: the more we understand just how completely the waters of life have slaked our spiritual thirst and met us in our deepest place of need, the more we find that we have a thirst that can never be satisfied—but it is a thirst we had never experienced before.
When the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians that he had “learned to be content whatever the circumstances,” he was not saying he was satisfied. Paul was never fully satisfied with the relationship He had with Christ. He always wanted more of Jesus. He wanted to serve Jesus more. He wanted to love Jesus more. He wanted to be with Jesus more. This is the thirst that can never be satisfied on this side of the grave, and this thirst is a very good thing! And yet Paul was so deeply immersed in the living waters that he could say, “To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Can the same be said of you today?
If we ever find ourselves satisfied with our current relationship with our Savior, we can be sure we have been drinking from other wells. When we read through the life of Jesus in the gospel accounts, we see that His thirst for His Father was never satisfied. Luke’s gospel reports that “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:14). At no time did Jesus cease from seeking communion with His Father in heaven.
Stay thirsty, Christian. Stay thirsty for the truth in thought, word, and deed. Stay thirsty, as Paul did, “to know Christ and the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). Stay thirsty for opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ as you engage with a lost and hurting world. And know that only when you get to the other side of the Jordan will that thirst be eternally slaked.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 