Good Saturday morning! May God be glorified in all that we do today! Hoo boy, I just saw that our high school football team ended the season at 0-9. I can recall some of what it was like to be on a losing team for a season and it's not fun. If you know the coach or some team members, you might want to give them some encouragement today or next week. An oh-fer season is tough on the whole team. I have a "restart me" notice popping up on the computer this morning. What an irritant! Writing can be difficult enough without that going on. What does today's verse bring us?
"But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life." John 4:14
Of course everyone is going to want this water. But are we going to miss the meaning of Jesus here? The first clue is the fresh, bubbling spring within; regular water doesn't do that. We cannot drink even the best water on earth and have some kind of internal spring start up within us. The water we have here does not give eternal life; not even the water Mr. Ponce de Leon was looking for in Florida. Jesus must be speaking of some other kind of water; a fruit of the Spirit that we cannot see or grasp.
It is interesting that so much of what we seek in this world could be described as a thirst. We seek more drink, more food, more sex, more companionship, more shelter, more money, more of this and that, and yet none of it satisfies. If you enjoy time with another person, a good thing for sure, that other person will still need time alone and time to enjoy other people. We cannot have anyone all the time, and we are left unsatisfied. Food and drink are quickly consumed, money is a vaporous thing, and new stuff quickly becomes old stuff. Even the somewhat permanent things in life, like a house, are actively falling apart even as we sit in them. Any of us can also be stuck with a HOUSE at any moment through a change in circumstances. Sorry, I've been watching those old movies again. HOUSE - Home Of Unsupportable Size and Expense. In other words, we might have to move out of our home due to circumstances we couldn't see coming a few years back. Thirsts in this world are satisfied only temporarily, we must drink daily and almost constantly of many things. A thirst for God's word is a good thing and we should be coming back for more, but most things that we thirst for are constant needs that drag us back to earth.
We want that which satisfies and that drink that leaves us never thirsting again. However, we also have learned that what Jesus offers is not of this world. He is the only source, the Holy Spirit is the fountain within us, God is the Provider. I can't grab a bucket of this water and pour it in you; you can't take a cup and give it to someone else, but Jesus is ready to give this water to all who will ask.
Let us look forward to more words from Jesus next week!
Bucky
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