“… anyone who is thirsty…” (John 7:37 NIV)
Jesus made a startling promise /when he was here on earth. He invited
anyone //who was thirsty, who was unsatisfied in life, to come to him.
The promise was that [whoever believed in him] would have [rivers of living
water] flowing from within /to satisfy that thirsting and emptiness in
their innermost being. Pretty incredible, right?
It’s even more amazing when we consider the all-inclusiveness of this promise, for Jesus said that it applied to anyone
//who was thirsty— anyone then, and anyone today, in Brooklyn, in Europe,
in Asia, in Latin America, in Africa, in your local church or mine!
The qualification for receiving the promise is not “if anyone is white
or black or Asian or Latino”; not “if anyone has lived a good life” or
“if anyone is rich” or “if anyone is poor.” No, Jesus doesn’t say any
of that. The only qualification is the following: Is anybody thirsty?
Anybody not satisfied? Anybody feeling a lack of fulfillment? Anybody
up at night /wondering why you’re alive? Anybody afraid of death?
If
anybody is like that, “Come to me,” Jesus says. If you’re not thirsty,
there’s no invitation for you;
but if you have an emptiness within //that
only God can fill, then it's for you.
This invitation is definitely for everyone in the world //who has a void
in their life and doesn’t know about Jesus;
but it can also apply to
believers, who unfortunately, could get distracted by what they see
around them and begin to not be satisfied with Jesus alone. As they
lose that fellowship with the Lord, as they lose their trust in him and
their closeness with him, they begin to try to gain satisfaction /from
all the things //that the world is going after.
Isn’t it lamentable that
right now, in America, [the lifestyles of many people //who attend church]
are for the most part not any different from those of people //who don’t
go to church and who don’t even believe in God? They pursue the same
things, watch the same things, run after the same things…
As Christians
drift away from the Lord, one of the signs is that they stop delighting
themselves in God. He no longer is their joy; and instead, things
become their joy. Money, fame, education, political causes—those can
become the goal for Christians //as well as people //who don’t know Christ.
When they achieve the goal, however, they’re just as empty as they were
before.
The good news is that [the promise () Jesus made] still holds true today.
Someone may say, “But I don’t deserve it! After all, I used to serve
the Lord, and I should have known better… No, but you don’t know what
I’ve done in my life… But I’m so weak!” Jesus’ response is the same:
“Anyone who’s thirsty—anyone—Come to me and drink! I will fill
the emptiness, give you joy and peace, and provide that satisfaction
that you need in your life.” Are you thirsty? If you are, then why
don't you come to him today?
To be continued…
Read John 7:37-40.