Obey Your Thirst

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." - John 7:37 KJV


That verse has been bouncing around in my head since Sunday night when my pastor gave his sermon. He gave the illustration of a sprite commercial where people would drink the product then slam into each other, releasing a wave of water that would shower everyone around them. It's one of the reasons I've loved coming to hear his sermons, he has rather interesting methods for bringing out the points of the message God gives him. When the clip finished, he went straight into the lesson and spoke that everyone has a thirst that needed to be quenched and that in order for it. What he said following that mad my heart sink a good ways.


"Legitimate needs met in an illegitimate  way is sin."


Up until that evening, I never thought of it so straight on before. I was brought up believing that sin was what occurs when you just do things that were outside of God's Will, and never thought it out further than that. Yet this simple phrase brought home a point that for over twenty years was just sitting on my door step wanting to get in. Suffice it to say that my heart has been troubling me more so than not since then.


As I type I have a box of chocolates that my parents had bought me for Valentine's Day, and beside that a book by Gary Chapman that talks about the five love languages (I may write a bit on that later).  Thinking back on Sunday night, I remember telling my friend that the sermon was the best Valentine's sermon that I've heard in a long time. She just looked at me funny and told me she had no idea what I was talking about. Here's what my though process was like.


I thirst for love, and have gone out to seek it, only to find myself hurt and without my thirst satisfied but worse. My soul was always left dehydrated and yet I continued to seek it out because my thirst was that great. The sermon went on to say that Christ will quench everything, something I'd always known but as we all know, we can know a lot but practice little. Over the years I had been at college, I had forgotten that, and I believe that is where I started making mistakes. Since I've been out of college my spiritual life seems to be slowly getting back on track, though there's still someone I greatly miss as well as friends that I consider my family that I will always miss and welcome with open arms and a closing bear hug. Though I wish to return to them, I need to get my life back on track and remind my heart what it was like to have a heart so deep in Christ nothing else mattered. 


I need to go back and drink from the source that will bring back life to my soul and life. How can anyone run, give chase, or anything so much more than a crawl if they do not put the right nourishments into themselves? 


We left the sermon with three things
- You must acknowledge your thirst
- Belief in Christ is the thirst quencher of the soul
- The Holy Spirit's indwelling results in living waters flowing


That last point was an interesting one for me, as it was spoken of being one of the main things that separated the Old and New Testaments. In the first portion of the Bible, men were inspired by the Holy Spirit, whereas in the second half the Holy Spirit was inspiring and indwelling. How cool is that? To know that we could have such things that the men and women in the Old Testament that God was able to do such miraculous and great things through didn't have. 


Simple truths with mind blowing revelations every time I hear or read it.


As I close... Jesus was willing to give up everything, life included so that we may spend eternity with Him. There's only a small handful of people I would lay down my life for. What does that mean exactly? Well for starters, I need to have more of the love God has for His creation. Second, how can anyone top such a gift on Valentine's day?


Love you guys, and know I'm always praying for you.
John