Jesus & Tea

“But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst again.” John 4:14 (NIV)

Deep within each of us are desires which are constantly waiting to be satisfied. The things we give most of our mental energy to are a reflection of what we most crave or desire. For the purpose of simplicity, I am going to place our desires into three categories: Spiritual, Practical, and Sinful. Our spiritual longings consist of such things as the desire for communion with God and His people (fellowship), and the desire to read the word. Our practical desires consist of the desire for good health, financial stability, fun, and relationships. Our sinful desires consist of attempts to live outside God’s will and live by the flesh (sin). Jesus is fully God and fully man and is able to satisfy our practical desires which stem from the human aspect of our nature, and our spiritual desires. He is however not aiming to satisfy our sinful desires. This would be contrary to who he is. He instead set an example for us by going to the cross, although he knew no sin. We must deal with our sinful desires by following in the footsteps of our Savior and allow ourselves to be daily crucified (Galatians 5:24).

Crucifixion prevents sin from spoiling (infesting with things contrary to God) the other aspects of our lives that Christ wants to satisfy. I will say it plainly: Sin does not satisfy.

In John 4, Jesus asks the woman at the well to give him water to drink because he was thirsty. We see here that he himself thirsted and could therefore not having been referring to the liquid compound H20 when he offered a certain water that would never leave one never to thirst again upon drinking it. Surely he must have been referring to a spiritual water. Jesus is fully God and fully man, and is therefore able to provide for both our spiritual needs and our practical needs, and we know that if we come to him, we most certainly do not have to lack spiritual satisfaction again.

It’s a Journey:

My personal experience with seeking satisfaction in sin has been long and uphill. There have been so many instances, seasons rather, when I felt I was experiencing more defeat than victory in giving God ground in my soul. There are so many phrases that are overused in Christianity but unfortunately still hold true. One of them constantly echos in my mind whenever I am battling with round two of bondage that I feel I’ve already been freed from or recurring oppression. That phrase is “Just Surrender”. Boy did I really surrender over and over, but that is not the final step. Surrender is when you empty yourself and yield all of your members unto the Lord. Once you surrender, you must be filled. This is where drinking of the Lord comes into play. Drinking of the Lord means coming to Him and allowing Him to be what fills up the dark and hollow places within that depend on sin habits for satisfaction. The reason that I unfailingly returned to these habits was because I was longing to feel whole, to be seen, heard, and understood. I believed the lie that sin could fill me much faster, and much better than Christ. The truth is that Christ is able to permanently fill the empty and sin-dependent places within, in the most satisfying, long-lasting way.