LifeLink Devotional

Friday, October 16, 2020

I love rivers. Any size. Creeks. Babbling brooks. Streams. When water is flowing, I am captivated. I could sit for hours and watch the water surge over rocks and logs. The gentle gurgle of moving water relaxes me. Fresh, clean, pure mountain streams are my favorite because not only do they nourish my soul with tranquility, they also nourish my body with refreshment.

My mind is captivated by the seemingly never-ending flow of water in a river. Where does it all come from? Even when the rain and melting snow have ceased, the water still flows, albeit more slowly. I am fascinated with the almost eternal nature of a river, for I know not its beginning and cannot see its end.

During the great Feast of Booths in Jerusalem, while tensions are rising and tempers are flaring as people debate the identity of Christ, Jesus stands up and loudly proclaims an eternal truth.

John 7:37-38  “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

The behavior of the people at the feast was an indicator of their thirst for spiritual truth. Whether they rejected or accepted Christ, they had the same thirst, but different ideas of what water could quench their thirst. Those who rejected Christ sought to eliminate thirst by drinking of religious duty, self-fulfillment, and self-gratification. Those who chose to believe in Jesus as the Christ were about to discover the eternal water of the Holy Spirit of God. Only one group would never thirst again.

When the source of water we drink is man-made, we will always thirst for more. Human solutions to the soul’s thirst for meaning will never satisfy us. But when the source of water is the creator of water, we will drink of living water that revives our soul, refreshes our spirit, and satisfies our thirst.

When we recognize that our greatest thirst is for spiritual satisfaction, and we turn from human solutions to belief in Jesus as Savior and Lord, we are filled with the Holy Spirit who becomes to us a river of living water flowing out of our heart.

Think about this further analogy of water. When water springs up from the earth as a spring and begins its journey as a creek, a brook, a stream, or a river, the water is only so pure as the ground from which it gushed. Water that originates in the soiled ground of man’s sin cannot ever become a river of life. It has its origins in death.

However, water that originates in the heart of God will be pure life, and will bring life to your heart. Your heart will become a source of living water, quenching the thirst of every aspect of your life. Rivers of life will flow from you and nourish others. Out of your heart your mouth will speak words of life to others. Your thirst will be satisfied, and you will eagerly desire to help others quench their thirst also.

Are you thirsty? Do you keep drinking of man’s water, and wonder why you always need more? Then come to Jesus. He will quench your greatest thirst, and you will never thirst again.

Pastor John