Jn.7:37-39 – Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He said in reference to the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
This prophetic word and appeal from Jesus gets to the very heart of our Christian experience. Is any body thirsty? Better yet; are you thirsty? That’s the funny thing though about spiritual thirst, most people can never quite understand what that longing inside of them is because they have zero spiritual understanding. In a strange but true way it takes the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives for us to come to the conclusion that we are actually thirsty in a spiritual sense. We are so used to the world’s answers for happiness that we stumble down the road with all the other confused, lost, yet thirsty people. It’s only when the Lord opens our heart that we become painfully aware of our plight, we need the Lord, we are thirsty for Him and we are not even aware that He is what we are longing for. Here is how Max Lucado describes that thirst for God.
“If anyone is thirsty.” Not “if anyone is worthy, qualified, trained, or mature.” All that is needed is an admission of thirst. Who fails to meet this criterion? The teenager is thirsty for friends. The senior citizen is thirsty for hope. The heartbroken man is thirsty for a second chance. The shame-filled woman is thirsty for acceptance. We are thirsty—thirsty to be happy, thirsty to have meaning, thirsty for answers and strength. “If anyone is thirsty,” Jesus offers, “come to me and drink.” Could his direction be clearer? Yet for all its clarity we succeed at muddling it. Jesus was speaking in the midst of an extremely religious moment. Even so he invited, “Come to me!” A person might attend a thousand religious events and not find refreshment for the soul. Spiritual thirst is quenched only by Christ himself.”
That last sentence holds the answer. It’s not friends, acceptance by people, or even a second chance at life that we need, we need the Lord because only He can quench our thirst. That’s why Jesus was so adamant as He lifted His voice in the temple that day, “If anyone is thirsty”, He said, “come to Me and drink”. Maybe you are becoming aware of your need for the Lord, if so its time for you to have a drink.