Thirsty no more
I keep some plants on my windowsill to take advantage of the light, especially in the winter when the days are short. One of them, a cyclamen, needs extra water. I sometimes forget to water it and will suddenly notice the poor thing has wilted. It springs right up after a good drink – it’s almost as if I can see life flowing up from the wet soil into the leaves and flowers.
I sometimes wilt too, not just physically, but spiritually as well. There’s no
thing like a cool drink to restore energy and make you feel a bit more alive, but we always get thirsty again. Jesus talked about this in John 4, when he met a Samaritan woman at a well. She was there to draw water and Jesus asked her for a drink. Even though she was surprised a Jewish man would ask her, a woman and a Samaritan at that, to draw water for her, she engaged in quite an interesting conversation with him. The upshot was that Jesus told her if she drank living water from him, she would never thirst again. And then he revealed himself as the Messiah.
The living water Jesus offered to the Samaritan woman is available to us today. His promise that those who drink it will never again be thirsty is just as good now as it was then. The water he gives becomes a spring welling up to eternal life (verse 14). He didn’t tell her what living water is, but we find out later in John 7: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scriptures said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (verses 37-39, NIV).
The gift of living water – the Holy Spirit – satisfies like nothing else. He does quench our thirst, but he also leaves us wanting more of him, not because we become thirsty again but because we simply can’t get enough of his love, goodness and soul-satisfying refreshment.
Study by Tammy Tkach
First published on 14 March 2023, at www.gemsofgodsgrace.wordpress.com
About the writer:
Tammy Tkach is the Assistant Pastor of the Eugene, Oregon, USA congregation. She is a speaker and writer, and publishes a blog at www.gemsofgodsgrace.wordpress.com
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