John 5:16-30
Have you ever been so very sure that you are right - only to find out you are completely wrong? Sometimes you don't find out right away. You may go along upset at the individual who challenged you for days or weeks, then one day something is revealed to you, and there it is - you were wrong!
The men who became leaders in the Jewish religion studied the Scriptures devotedly; yet, they did not recognize the Messiah when He was standing among them. The Scriptures revealed Him, John the Baptist proclaimed Him, God testified that Jesus was His Son, and Jesus Himself confessed that He and the Father were One. The leaders remained unconvinced.
They were ready to kill Jesus for breaking the Sabbath - death was the proper penalty according to the Scripture (see Exodus 35:2). However, as Jesus pointed out, God was always at His work. We can see this to be true. People are born and die on the Sabbath. The crops continue to grow, rain falls, the sun shines. If the leaders did not see Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us, then we can understand why they believed Jesus was guilty of breaking the law.
In the verses following we find Jesus patiently teaching the men that persecuted and wanted to kill Him. He is giving them instruction on how they can find eternal life. They believe this comes from following the law. Jesus will tell them, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."
Eventually we all must decide what we believe about Jesus Christ. We can choose to deny that He is the Messiah. For each one who is so very sure that Christ is not who He claimed to be, a day of revelation is coming. One of those days when suddenly you realize how very wrong you were! "...that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:10-11)
Monday, November 28, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
A Law of Compassion
John 5:7-15
Does the man at the pool want to get well?
He doesn't ever answer the question from John 5:6! Instead, he explains why he isn't well yet. No one will carry him to the pool. Others get in front of him when he tries to get there. He's tried, and failed. Getting well is out of his control.
The man is where he needs to be in order to get well, he has tried to get well, and Jesus sees his feeble attempts as the answer. Yes, he wants to get well. Jesus tells him to, "Pick up your mat and walk." The man obeyed.
Imagine for a moment, having lived as an invalid for 38 years, that you are suddenly able to carry the mat you've been lying on and walk. The excitement and freedom you feel is overwhelming! The people you know are stunned by the miracle Christ has performed in your life. Or maybe not...
Hours after I made the decision to follow Christ, the phone rang. The caller proceeded to ridicule the profession of faith in Jesus I had just made that morning. The excitement I'd felt over the miracle Christ had perfomed in my life diminished a tiny bit. Perhaps that's how the invalid felt when he was stopped by the religious leaders for carrying his mat on the Sabbath.
The law being referred to in thier statement, "...the law forbids you to carry your mat." is found in Exodus 20:8. It states, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work..."
Should we obey the commandments that God has given us? Yes, we should. Was Jesus aware of this command when he told the man to carry his mat? Of course. Was it work to heal the invalid? According to the Jewish religious leaders it was. But Jesus advocates acts of compassion on the Sabbath, and reminds these leaders of thier own infraction of this law in Luke 13:15 when he states, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?"
The man, no longer an invalid, was asked the name of the one that healed him, and he didn't know. Later, Jesus finds the man at the temple and warns him to, "Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you." Something worse than being an invalid for 38 years. Sin can cause us to lose our freedom, our health, our peace of mind. Sin can separate us from God eternally.
Jesus cared about the man's physical condition and healed him. He also cared about the man's spiritual condition and took time to find him at the temple and give him instruction.
Obedience to the law is important, but Christ teaches us to temper how we follow the law with compassion.
Does the man at the pool want to get well?
He doesn't ever answer the question from John 5:6! Instead, he explains why he isn't well yet. No one will carry him to the pool. Others get in front of him when he tries to get there. He's tried, and failed. Getting well is out of his control.
The man is where he needs to be in order to get well, he has tried to get well, and Jesus sees his feeble attempts as the answer. Yes, he wants to get well. Jesus tells him to, "Pick up your mat and walk." The man obeyed.
Imagine for a moment, having lived as an invalid for 38 years, that you are suddenly able to carry the mat you've been lying on and walk. The excitement and freedom you feel is overwhelming! The people you know are stunned by the miracle Christ has performed in your life. Or maybe not...
Hours after I made the decision to follow Christ, the phone rang. The caller proceeded to ridicule the profession of faith in Jesus I had just made that morning. The excitement I'd felt over the miracle Christ had perfomed in my life diminished a tiny bit. Perhaps that's how the invalid felt when he was stopped by the religious leaders for carrying his mat on the Sabbath.
The law being referred to in thier statement, "...the law forbids you to carry your mat." is found in Exodus 20:8. It states, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work..."
Should we obey the commandments that God has given us? Yes, we should. Was Jesus aware of this command when he told the man to carry his mat? Of course. Was it work to heal the invalid? According to the Jewish religious leaders it was. But Jesus advocates acts of compassion on the Sabbath, and reminds these leaders of thier own infraction of this law in Luke 13:15 when he states, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?"
The man, no longer an invalid, was asked the name of the one that healed him, and he didn't know. Later, Jesus finds the man at the temple and warns him to, "Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you." Something worse than being an invalid for 38 years. Sin can cause us to lose our freedom, our health, our peace of mind. Sin can separate us from God eternally.
Jesus cared about the man's physical condition and healed him. He also cared about the man's spiritual condition and took time to find him at the temple and give him instruction.
Obedience to the law is important, but Christ teaches us to temper how we follow the law with compassion.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Do You Want to Get Well?
John 5:1-6
Hot Springs, Arkansas - for many years the destination of those seeking the curative powers of the mineral rich, thermal springs found there. In today's Scripture we see a pool in Jerusalem that was credited with healing powers. As the infirm have flocked to Hot Springs, in Jesus' day this pool in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate was filled with disabled people waiting for an opportunity to be healed by the water.
Out of a great number laying in the area Jesus notices one in particular. He makes inquiries about this one, and finds he's been disabled for 38 years. He walks up and asks the invalid, "Do you want to get well?"
The lame, blind and paralyzed are lying all around him. He's been here waiting in the only place he knows to offer healing for someone in his condition. Over time he may have witnessed one or another taken to the water, their life changed when a healing occurred. It's a place of hope for him, but after 38 years, he's most likely come to the conclusion that healing will never come about. Then a stranger walks up and asks, "Do you want to get well?"
For many years I attended church. I was in the right place to hear about the healing power Christ possesses, a place of hope for the spiritual invalid. One Sunday morning as I sat in the pew, people all around, it was as if Jesus singled me out and asked, "Do you want to get well?
Did I want to get well?
I could stay right where I was - comfortable in the sinful life I'd grown callous to, or I could choose to be healed. That's what Jesus offers each of us- healing in the form of forgiveness for the sin that keeps us blind, lame, and paralyzed. An opportunity for a new life filled with His presence. I chose to get well!
You also have a choice. "Do you want to get well?"
"...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10
Hot Springs, Arkansas - for many years the destination of those seeking the curative powers of the mineral rich, thermal springs found there. In today's Scripture we see a pool in Jerusalem that was credited with healing powers. As the infirm have flocked to Hot Springs, in Jesus' day this pool in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate was filled with disabled people waiting for an opportunity to be healed by the water.
Out of a great number laying in the area Jesus notices one in particular. He makes inquiries about this one, and finds he's been disabled for 38 years. He walks up and asks the invalid, "Do you want to get well?"
The lame, blind and paralyzed are lying all around him. He's been here waiting in the only place he knows to offer healing for someone in his condition. Over time he may have witnessed one or another taken to the water, their life changed when a healing occurred. It's a place of hope for him, but after 38 years, he's most likely come to the conclusion that healing will never come about. Then a stranger walks up and asks, "Do you want to get well?"
For many years I attended church. I was in the right place to hear about the healing power Christ possesses, a place of hope for the spiritual invalid. One Sunday morning as I sat in the pew, people all around, it was as if Jesus singled me out and asked, "Do you want to get well?
Did I want to get well?
I could stay right where I was - comfortable in the sinful life I'd grown callous to, or I could choose to be healed. That's what Jesus offers each of us- healing in the form of forgiveness for the sin that keeps us blind, lame, and paralyzed. An opportunity for a new life filled with His presence. I chose to get well!
You also have a choice. "Do you want to get well?"
"...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10
Thursday, November 17, 2011
See It to Believe It
John 4: 43-54
Did Jesus answer my prayer, or was it my own hard work that landed the promotion? Is my friend feeling better because God intervened, or did the doctor coincidentally find the cure? When I was kind to a person who'd hurt me, was it the result of God leading me to forgive, or my own self-control?
Jesus was welcomed back to Galilee after many had seen all He'd done in Jerusalem at Passover. Immediately a royal official comes to Jesus begging for his son's healing, the son was near death. "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe", Jesus states in John 4:48. He knew their hearts. They weren't going to believe the Scriptures, or His testimony, but the miracles they could see brought them to believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
Jesus heals the official's son without seeing him. "You may go. Your son will live." , He tells the man. While the man is still making his way home, servants meet him with the news that his son was living. When he asks the servants what time his son got better, he can see that it was at the exact time that Jesus had told him, "Your son will live." The man and all his household believe.
Daily we bring our requests before Jesus. It's the best place to bring them. Just look at the royal official's son - Jesus was able to heal him without even making a house call. The things that we might call coincidence, hard work, self-control are really present day miracles. God listens to our prayers, and, as He alone knows the end from the beginning, answers them in love with the very best answers. No coincidence - a loving Hand. We may work hard - but who gave us health and opportunity to work? And self-control flies out the window when it really is our self in control and not the presence of God's Holy Spirit leading us!
Jesus knew the people had to see miracles to believe. May He open our eyes to the miracles He performs in our life each day to strengthen our belief!
Did Jesus answer my prayer, or was it my own hard work that landed the promotion? Is my friend feeling better because God intervened, or did the doctor coincidentally find the cure? When I was kind to a person who'd hurt me, was it the result of God leading me to forgive, or my own self-control?
Jesus was welcomed back to Galilee after many had seen all He'd done in Jerusalem at Passover. Immediately a royal official comes to Jesus begging for his son's healing, the son was near death. "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe", Jesus states in John 4:48. He knew their hearts. They weren't going to believe the Scriptures, or His testimony, but the miracles they could see brought them to believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
Jesus heals the official's son without seeing him. "You may go. Your son will live." , He tells the man. While the man is still making his way home, servants meet him with the news that his son was living. When he asks the servants what time his son got better, he can see that it was at the exact time that Jesus had told him, "Your son will live." The man and all his household believe.
Daily we bring our requests before Jesus. It's the best place to bring them. Just look at the royal official's son - Jesus was able to heal him without even making a house call. The things that we might call coincidence, hard work, self-control are really present day miracles. God listens to our prayers, and, as He alone knows the end from the beginning, answers them in love with the very best answers. No coincidence - a loving Hand. We may work hard - but who gave us health and opportunity to work? And self-control flies out the window when it really is our self in control and not the presence of God's Holy Spirit leading us!
Jesus knew the people had to see miracles to believe. May He open our eyes to the miracles He performs in our life each day to strengthen our belief!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Basic Needs
John 4:27-42
We need food, water, shelter and clothing. Basic needs to sustain human life. So we get up in the morning and start working to provide for those needs. Perhaps you are also providing for other's needs to be met. Throw in the things you want besides your needs and it gets more complicated, requires more work. Sometimes we get to a point where our lives are consumed by work.
Jesus' disciples are concerned about Jesus need for food and urge Him to, "...eat something." in John 4:31. The Samaritan woman wonders how Jesus will drink from the well, "...you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep." Physical needs that must be attended to. In both situations, though, Jesus is not concerned with the physical. In the case of the Samaritan woman He talks about living water that comes from a "spring of water welling up to eternal life." Jesus answers His disciples concern over food with, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about....My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work."
Yes, meeting physical needs is important. God provided everything man needed in the Garden of Eden. It was sin that turned meeting those needs into a burden. "To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it', "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground,..." Genesis 3:17-19. From that point onward we would toil and sweat for sustenance.
Meeting spiritual needs was the reason Jesus came. We're focused on the physical. He knows that, and uses those needs to reveal our deeper need. our need for Him, and the abundant life He alone provides. We worry about the physical, but He tells us,"...do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" (Matthew 6:25)
Jesus revealed Himself as Messiah to the Samaritan woman. Her response was to leave her water jar and tell the people in town to come and see. The people came, listened to Jesus and many believed.
Yes, there was still water to draw each day for the needs of her household. But can you imagine for a moment, how the woman viewed the well from that day forward? Perhaps the task became less of a burden, and the well a place of praise and thanksgiving for the day she met the Living Water there!
We need food, water, shelter and clothing. Basic needs to sustain human life. So we get up in the morning and start working to provide for those needs. Perhaps you are also providing for other's needs to be met. Throw in the things you want besides your needs and it gets more complicated, requires more work. Sometimes we get to a point where our lives are consumed by work.
Jesus' disciples are concerned about Jesus need for food and urge Him to, "...eat something." in John 4:31. The Samaritan woman wonders how Jesus will drink from the well, "...you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep." Physical needs that must be attended to. In both situations, though, Jesus is not concerned with the physical. In the case of the Samaritan woman He talks about living water that comes from a "spring of water welling up to eternal life." Jesus answers His disciples concern over food with, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about....My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work."
Yes, meeting physical needs is important. God provided everything man needed in the Garden of Eden. It was sin that turned meeting those needs into a burden. "To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it', "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground,..." Genesis 3:17-19. From that point onward we would toil and sweat for sustenance.
Meeting spiritual needs was the reason Jesus came. We're focused on the physical. He knows that, and uses those needs to reveal our deeper need. our need for Him, and the abundant life He alone provides. We worry about the physical, but He tells us,"...do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" (Matthew 6:25)
Jesus revealed Himself as Messiah to the Samaritan woman. Her response was to leave her water jar and tell the people in town to come and see. The people came, listened to Jesus and many believed.
Yes, there was still water to draw each day for the needs of her household. But can you imagine for a moment, how the woman viewed the well from that day forward? Perhaps the task became less of a burden, and the well a place of praise and thanksgiving for the day she met the Living Water there!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Exposed!
John 4: 16-26
How easy it is to agree with a sermon that tells us how to meet our physical needs, or gives us a list of rights and wrongs we have no trouble following. It becomes much harder when the sermon reveals sin in our lives, exposing personal rebellion against God's will for us.
The great King David listened carefully to a story of an offense told to him by Nathan the prophet. The story is found in 2 Samuel 12:1-13 and goes like this: There's a rich man with a lot of livestock, and a poor man with one little lamb. The lamb was dear to the poor man. A traveler comes to the rich man, and instead of feeding him from his flock, he goes and takes the poor man's lamb. David is outraged by what this rich man has done to the poor man, and declares, "As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity." Nathan answers him, "You are the man!" Nathan has just exposed David's sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah the Hittite, the whole story can be found in 2 Samuel 11. Until Nathan pointed out David's sin, it was easy for him to listen to the story - and even feel righteous anger towards the rich man!
Our Samaritan woman was enjoying her conversation with Jesus. The living water He spoke of was just what she needed to end the drudge of water hauling; so she asks Him to give it to her. And He replies, "Go call your husband and come back." In that sentence she is exposed.
Jesus knows everything about her. Though she will reply that she has no husband, Jesus knew the truth. The man she was now living with was not her husband, and she's had five previous husbands.What she tells Him is the truth, but it doesn't honestly reveal her situation.
She changes the subject to religious obedience - where should she be worshipping? Jesus tells her of a time that's coming when the place won't be an issue. Instead, "...true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit, and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
The woman admits to knowing that, "Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us." Isn't that exactly what Jesus was doing out there by the well? He knows her burden, He knows her physical need, He knows her sin, and most of all He knows her spiritual need.
She needs the Messiah - and Jesus declares to her, "I who speak to you am He."
We may be able to hide our sin from those around us, and even become outraged at someone else's sin. But Jesus knows us inside and out. He's not put off by our feeble attempts to cover up. "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
Like the Samaritan woman, we all need the Messiah!
How easy it is to agree with a sermon that tells us how to meet our physical needs, or gives us a list of rights and wrongs we have no trouble following. It becomes much harder when the sermon reveals sin in our lives, exposing personal rebellion against God's will for us.
The great King David listened carefully to a story of an offense told to him by Nathan the prophet. The story is found in 2 Samuel 12:1-13 and goes like this: There's a rich man with a lot of livestock, and a poor man with one little lamb. The lamb was dear to the poor man. A traveler comes to the rich man, and instead of feeding him from his flock, he goes and takes the poor man's lamb. David is outraged by what this rich man has done to the poor man, and declares, "As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity." Nathan answers him, "You are the man!" Nathan has just exposed David's sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah the Hittite, the whole story can be found in 2 Samuel 11. Until Nathan pointed out David's sin, it was easy for him to listen to the story - and even feel righteous anger towards the rich man!
Our Samaritan woman was enjoying her conversation with Jesus. The living water He spoke of was just what she needed to end the drudge of water hauling; so she asks Him to give it to her. And He replies, "Go call your husband and come back." In that sentence she is exposed.
Jesus knows everything about her. Though she will reply that she has no husband, Jesus knew the truth. The man she was now living with was not her husband, and she's had five previous husbands.What she tells Him is the truth, but it doesn't honestly reveal her situation.
She changes the subject to religious obedience - where should she be worshipping? Jesus tells her of a time that's coming when the place won't be an issue. Instead, "...true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit, and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
The woman admits to knowing that, "Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us." Isn't that exactly what Jesus was doing out there by the well? He knows her burden, He knows her physical need, He knows her sin, and most of all He knows her spiritual need.
She needs the Messiah - and Jesus declares to her, "I who speak to you am He."
We may be able to hide our sin from those around us, and even become outraged at someone else's sin. But Jesus knows us inside and out. He's not put off by our feeble attempts to cover up. "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
Like the Samaritan woman, we all need the Messiah!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Need Water?
John 4:10-15
Turn on the faucet at your kitchen sink - water splashes out to wash your hands, fill a cooking pot, or get a drink. The effort required to accomplish this task? Just a flick of the wrist.
My grandmother lived in a home with an old well. There was a pump standing off the back porch. You would place a bucket under the pump spigot and raise and lower the handle until the bucket was filled with water, then carry the bucket - now heavy with water - to the kitchen. A lot more effort required to perform the same tasks!
Both scenarios look easy compared to the effort required for the Samaritan woman to provide water for her household. She needed a jar or bucket that could be lowered into the well, filled with water, pulled back up, then carried to her home. However heavy the vessel was, it was much heavier on the return trip. The task would be completed day in and day out.
Jesus met this woman as she went about the business of getting water. He surprised her by asking for a drink, and now tells her that He can give her living water, the kind that satisfies once and for all, and becomes a "spring of water, welling up to eternal life."
The woman is practical, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?" She understands Him to offer physical water - the kind she hauls out of the well daily. From the same well that Jacob, one of the Patriarchs, had drank from. She asks Jesus if He is "greater than our father Jacob"? You can almost see the puzzled expression on her face as she tries to figure out who Jesus is, and how she can get this "living water".
Jesus knew what the woman needed, to believe in Him as her Messiah. The life giving water He referred to was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that would satisfy her spiritual thirst as she was filled with God's presence in her life.
The woman responds immediately to having her physical need of water supplied, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." She's tired of the heavy burden of carrying her own water.
We can relate. Everyone has burdens and hardships in life. We may wish God would take them all away and give us something that would satisfy our needs once and for all. It may be restored health, a million dollars, a healed relationship - or water that runs from a faucet. Any of those things are great! But God knows the real thirst we have is one that can only be satisfied by Him, through a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ!
"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. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified."
John 7:37-39
Turn on the faucet at your kitchen sink - water splashes out to wash your hands, fill a cooking pot, or get a drink. The effort required to accomplish this task? Just a flick of the wrist.
My grandmother lived in a home with an old well. There was a pump standing off the back porch. You would place a bucket under the pump spigot and raise and lower the handle until the bucket was filled with water, then carry the bucket - now heavy with water - to the kitchen. A lot more effort required to perform the same tasks!
Both scenarios look easy compared to the effort required for the Samaritan woman to provide water for her household. She needed a jar or bucket that could be lowered into the well, filled with water, pulled back up, then carried to her home. However heavy the vessel was, it was much heavier on the return trip. The task would be completed day in and day out.
Jesus met this woman as she went about the business of getting water. He surprised her by asking for a drink, and now tells her that He can give her living water, the kind that satisfies once and for all, and becomes a "spring of water, welling up to eternal life."
The woman is practical, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?" She understands Him to offer physical water - the kind she hauls out of the well daily. From the same well that Jacob, one of the Patriarchs, had drank from. She asks Jesus if He is "greater than our father Jacob"? You can almost see the puzzled expression on her face as she tries to figure out who Jesus is, and how she can get this "living water".
Jesus knew what the woman needed, to believe in Him as her Messiah. The life giving water He referred to was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that would satisfy her spiritual thirst as she was filled with God's presence in her life.
The woman responds immediately to having her physical need of water supplied, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." She's tired of the heavy burden of carrying her own water.
We can relate. Everyone has burdens and hardships in life. We may wish God would take them all away and give us something that would satisfy our needs once and for all. It may be restored health, a million dollars, a healed relationship - or water that runs from a faucet. Any of those things are great! But God knows the real thirst we have is one that can only be satisfied by Him, through a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ!
"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. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified."
John 7:37-39
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