“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6)

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I gave him will never thirst” (John 4:13)

“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.” (John 7:37).

“He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.” (Revelation 21:6)

The title to today’s blog is borrowed from a line of Andrew Murray’s book, “Abide in Christ”. In it he said, “Ever thirsting is the secret of never thirsting”. I’m not sure I’d call this a “secret”, but the point I would venture Murray is getting at is to never stay satisfied with your present knowledge of Jesus. Don’t let your thirst ever be slaked. Yet, if you read some of the above, you might get the idea, especially from Jesus’ interaction with the not-so-well Samaritan woman at the well, that if you drink from the water He will give, we’d never be thirsty again. Jesus does say that (!), but in context I believe He is suggesting if you drink of Him, you’ll never be “satisfied” drinking from another well.  Other “wells” (reputation, relationships, accomplishments, possessions) will still leave you thirsty. Drinking of Jesus gives us eternal life, life that truly matters. He becomes the only Well worth drinking.

What does this have to do with our everyday walk with Jesus? The older I get in the faith, the more suspicious and weary I have become, of any teaching suggesting “all you got to do is . . .” Or, “apply this truth (especially if it’s “Gospel-centered”, “Gospel-driven”, etc) and you will be all right. While I am certainly enthusiastic about the Gospel, the closer I get to Jesus over the years, the more I see of my many imperfections and lack of practical holiness. I mourn. I thirst. And He is more than able and eager to let me come to Him and drink. So, sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I “drink” of principles, ideas, or theology. All of this can be good and even needed, but if in some way, these other wells I dig and drink of (Jer.2:13) eclipse my enjoyment of, my drinking in deeply of God Himself, this drinking does not satisfy.

So, I would only seek to encourage you today, to see Jesus offering you a drink of His Spirit (John 7:39),  a Spirit that was given to reveal Him and bring attention to Him. You don’t have to have it all together to come to Him. So often, I come confused, scared, and at times depressed, not even sure sometime that I still “know how” to drink. But, I keep coming because He tells me to. He has let me drink so many times in the past, and I have been satisfied with Him. Will you come to Jesus and drink of Him today?