Think of a time when you were really, really thirsty. Not just a little bit, but well and truly parched to the point of distraction. I had under-hydrated for a long run last week and all I would think about in the last mile was the water waiting for me in my car. It was sweet relief to take that first long sip!

Have you ever considered the things people thirst after that aren’t for hydration? Some people thirst after fame. Some thirst after power. Some thirst for wealth. Others for equality and inclusion. Some things are worthy of our thirst and others are frivolous. We can either drink the clear and healthy water that sustains us and helps us thrive, or we can try to satisfy ourselves with sugary soda pop. God has created us to know a good thirst from a bad one, and to seek to satisfy that thirst with healthy things rather than waste our resources on things that will never satiate us. 

But we still keep reaching for the soda pop.

God has a better offer.

Isaiah 55 (Contemporary English Version)

If you are thirsty,
    come and drink water!
If you don’t have any money,
    come, eat what you want!
Drink wine and milk
    without paying a cent.
² Why waste your money
    on what really isn’t food?
Why work hard for something
    that doesn’t satisfy?
Listen carefully to me,
and you will enjoy
    the very best foods.

I think the choice we face is between taking a quick and easy fix for our problems or accepting the free grace and mercy that the Lord offers. 

I know a woman who is struggling in her marriage. Her alcohol consumption exacerbates the situation. She knows that. Night after night she chooses to drink, which causes her to say critical and harsh things to her spouse. She recognizes that she is invited to drink from the Living Water that is Christ, who offers patience, perseverance, and forgiveness, but that would require sobriety. Christ alone is able to quench her thirst, but instead she drinks from the wasteful bottle of avoidance and anger, which will never, ever satisfy. 

³ Pay close attention!
    Come to me and live.
I will promise you
the eternal love and loyalty
    that I promised David.
⁴ I made him the leader and ruler
of the nations;
    he was my witness to them.

No matter what you are thirsting after today, God has an unlimited well of goodness that is offered without price. His healing mercies flow from the font of the resurrection. When you drink freely of the water he has to offer, you will be blessed with a life that provides the very best foods of peace, wholeness, and contentment.

Thirsty? Try Jesus. Come to him and live and you will receive the eternal love and loyalty he offers to all. When you drink the Living Water you will never be thirsty again.