Heart Tracks - Are You Thirsty?

"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink." John 7:37

Years ago there was a popular beer commercial from a company named Stroh's. In it, a man is crawling across a desert, dying of thirst. He comes upon a man, and asks him, "Would you happen to have any Stroh's?" The man answers that he doesn't, but that he does have a jug of cold, clear water that he'd be happy to give him his fill of. The dying man says, "No, thank you, but I really have a taste for some Stroh's," and he continues to crawl across the desert. That ad was meant to bring humor to its watchers, but as I think on it, it seems a perfect picture of all who are without Christ, and very sadly, too many who would profess to be His right now.

All of us are born with a spiritual thirst, and all of us, whether we want to admit it or not, are like the man crawling across the desert. We are dying for the water of life that only Jesus Christ can give, but also like him, we reject His Living Water for that which gives no life at all. We embrace what amounts to nothing more than the worlds' "soda pop," which will not only not satisfy our thirst, but increase it. Christ, in His sufficiency, stands before us in our spiritual desert and offers His water of life, but we say no, and crawl on, seeking what we will never find, but which is readily available to us right now. Our "taste for Stroh's" is killing us, but we continue to seek it nonetheless.

We humans are a thirsty people. We thirst for so many things; success, fulfillment, happiness. We try to satisfy this thirst through achievement, relationships, and comfort. We have a "taste" for these things, but our pursuit of them leads us to one place only; the desert. In that desert, as we crawl on towards our having them, we will encounter the One who knows and has what we most need, and what we must have; the Living Water of His Life. Then we're faced with a choice; will we receive His water, or will we crawl on, trying to satisfy a thirst that the desert we are in will never be able to do? The consequences of that choice will have, do have, eternal ramifications for us all. For you and for me.

It is an eternal tragedy to be offered the water of life and reject it, and so many will, but it is an equal one to have been offered that water, to receive it, and yet never drink it. This is the witness of so many who say they are His. The water has been given, yet they crawl on. At best, they take an occasional sip or two, but for the most part, never drink deeply. They still try to satisfy their "taste" in other things, and only grow more thirsty in the seeking.

In what way might any of us be crawling through a desert right now, indulging our tastes, and missing our Savior? He is there, right in the middle of our desert, offering His cold, pure, water of life. Will we have it, drink it, or, do we keep on crawling....ever deeper into the desert?

Blessings,
Pastor O