Wednesday, March 27, 2013

What Do You Thirst For?



John 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

What do we want out of life? What do we truly desire? What lengths does humanity take to achieve the happiness that they are searching for? In our Sunday sermon series, “Prepare Ye the Way”, Pastor JJ prepares our hearts for Easter with soul searching preaching on the Words of the Lord, Jesus, from the Cross. He explains that some of our desires are unrealistic, but some are for basic longings for needs, as hunger and thirst.

Psalm 69:21They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”

Why did God give us a physical thirst, where great expense and effect towards limited, yet necessary commodities, as water? Gods wants us to depend on physical things in order to show us that God provides, not us. Wanting us to see how much we really depend upon God Himself; that our basic needs of life must be met by God. Quenching our thirst and meeting our physical needs, points to and reminds us of our deep spiritual needs of our heart. We need God because we only have what God allows us to have. This reality creates a desire from God for God, our Providence.

Psalm 63:1You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

Pain is the negative, which we desire to rid ourselves of. Desire is the absence of something that we want, that we do not have and feel that we need. By our thirst for the Lord, we can enter and lean into desire. It is okay to have basic and godly desires, but not sinful desires as greed, pride, lusts, addictions and the like. Do not pretend that you do not have them. Unmet desires and unrealistic expectations can lead to disappointment. Let us thirst for “living water”.

John 4:10, 13-14 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”  “Whoever drinks of this water (from the well) will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Have we lost touch with our heart? What we want can lead us in the wrong directions. What we need are desires that are in line and aligned with God’s desires and purposes. God wants to us our desires to accomplish great things. It starts with a thirst which we should submit to Jesus to align with what He is doing in this world. Do we have a desire for Christ’s atonement? Do we have a desire to give loving care and compassion to meet the needs of others?

John 7:37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

Embrace the thirst of Christ’s desires for our life. Cherish our thirst for Jesus, who meets our needs. Do we desire Him more and more? Do we thirst for the Word of God? Do we thirst to see our family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances come to a “saving” knowledge of Jesus Christ? Jesus, from the Cross said, “I thirst”. What do you thirst for?

Psalm 42:1-2 “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”

In Christ, Brian

2 comments:

Susan said...

So true, Brian. What a nice devotional for today. I like the part that says that God gave us thirst. Nowadays everything has a scientific explanation that goes in circular reasoning instead of leading to the understanding that God has provided, not only giving us the true desires of our heart, but also the ability to desire them.

Have a blessed Easter (Passover/resurrection Sunday)
Susan

Brian Ray Todd said...

Thank you Susan for writing. I have been thinking a lot about how this old world is going in our day and age, and it came to me this morning about "the Great Commission". In a nation and world that is creasing losing sight of their providential Creator, especially in this "Holy Week" of Chrit's Passion", where is the "light" shining in the darkness of Sin, ignorance of God and unbelief that is the root of the decay and decline of social and cultural life. I like your wording, "the understanding that God has provided, not only giving us the true desires of our heart, but also the ability to desire them." When on the "wrong" road, make a "u"-turn and go back to the "right" road. May we continue to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and make God known in a lost and dying world. Blessings.