Hosanna Restoration Church

Quite a few years ago when I was a youngster, I had the idea that stopping to take drink when I was working was somehow a sign of weakness. The truth was that not drinking would ultimately make me weaker. Of course that would just make me work all the harder so I could make it till the time when it would look better to take a drink. I now know that this was foolishness, but at the time that was my thinking. Now I know much better and I drink lots and lots of water.

In this passage of scripture, Jesus says that if we believe in him we should come and drink. He said let everyone who thirsts come to me and drink. It seems to me that many of us go through a good part of our life thirsty and yet not drinking what is really the best thing for us. There are many people who acknowledge the existence of God but never bother to take a drink of the living water. I know first hand what it is like to say I believe and yet I was 30 years old before I came to know Jesus. I used to attend church and sing in church. One pastor once told me that when I sang the song “I Believe”, she knew I didn’t! She was right. I can remember reading a couple pages of a book called how to know you are born again, and telling my wife that if that book was right we were in trouble. It was right and we were in trouble! But at last we got thirsty enough to go to Jesus and have a drink.

I think that many people see walking with Jesus in the same way that I saw taking a drink while I was working. I wanted to show that I did not need it, that I could go on without a drink when others were gasping for breath. Lots of people want to take credit for their successes and blame God or someone else for the problems. Some people see faith as being weak, but in truth it is what makes us strong. Just like I saw a drink of water showing weakness when in fact it would have given me strength.

I think that many churches are full of people just like I was. They really are thirsty, but they won’t take a drink. So they just keep going through the motions and get more and more dissatisfied with each trip. In some cases there is no water, in other cases there is a flood but they just won’t drink. That is why Jesus said, “If you are thirsty come to me.” There is nothing else that can truly satisfy our thirst. There are a lot of mirages out there but Jesus said we should not be fooled by fake fountains. He said we should come right to the source.

Then He said, “If you believe in Me, drink.” He knew that many would come but not bother to drink. He also knew that if we did not drink our thirst would never be quenched. Remember the saying, “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink?” Well that fits us all from time to time. No matter what the circumstance, if we will come to Jesus and drink of that living water, we will be satisfied. If we refuse to drink, then it is no one else’s fault if we are not satisfied and we do not have life.

It does little good to be a hearer of the Word if we refuse to put it into practice. We can stand all day by a water fountain and claim to be thirsty, but if we don’t bother to drink we will die. We can say we believe as much as we want, but until we partake of His living water and allow ourselves to be transformed by Him, we are only fooling ourselves and maybe a few others with our claims. Still, we will die without Christ and that is the worst tragedy of all.