Drink Deep

“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)

Reflection:
If one word were to characterise much of our lives it would be “Thirst.”

We thirst for knowledge, we thirst for meaning, we thirst for significance, we thirst for relationships, we thirst for wealth, we thirst for power, we thirst for love, we thirst for heaing, we thirst for pleasure and we thirst for escapes from reality. No matter what we use to try and satisfy our cravings we normally find that the relief is short-lived and the thirst returns. The things of the world cannot truly satisfy a much deeper need within us.

Jesus picks up on this as He talks to the Samaritan woman at the well. Her life was one of failed relationships both with men and, it would seem, with the local women. Alone she went to a well outside of the town where she lived. Here she met Jesus who, recognising the thirst within her, offered her a spiritual solution to a very spiritual problem. His water would bring healing, cleansing and a perpetual source of satisfaction for her personal longings.

He picks up on this again at different points in His ministry.

• “On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37)
• “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17)

Whether we recognise it or not our deepest thirst is not for something but for Someone. It is a deeply spiritual ache and longing that is so real it reaches into our bodies, our minds and our emotions. We need a Someone who can fill our needs at all levels of our existence – Someone who can love us, forgive us, cleanse us, heal us and give to us a significance and value and peace that is beyond the false and non-satisfying remedies of the world.

There is only one source and satisfaction for all this – and it is found in the one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He speaks to us from the cross, from outside the empty tomb and from the right-hand of the Father in heaven and says, “Come to Me.” He speaks to us also from the Holy Spirit within us and says. “I am already here, come to Me.”

Response:
Stop running and begin to drink in His love and presence (again).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I hold my hand and my life out to You. Please take me and hold me and fill me with Your life and love and light. Amen.

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