John 7:37-39 Refreshing Water
“On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me in this way, just as the Scripture says.’ (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)” (Message)
Doesn’t that glass of ice water look refreshing among the rocks and sand of the Arizona desert? If I touch the glass, I will feel the film of condensed water on it, and I can feel the coolness of the water through the glass. I could even stick my finger in the glass and feel the coolness of the water and the ice cubes. I can just imagine how good it will taste, but until I actually taste it, it will do nothing for my thirst no matter how thirsty I might be. It won’t satisfy my thirst until it is ingested—taken into my body. Then I can taste it, and I can feel it cooling me down. Then, and only then has my experience with the glass of ice water become completely satisfying.
The same can be said for the Holy Spirit—the rivers of living water promised by Jesus for those who come to Him and drink of His presence. Only when we accept Jesus as Savior and Lord will we receive the Holy Spirit. We can read about Jesus, we call talk to people about Jesus, we can think of Him as a great man who did much good, but that’s not enough. We must drink of the living water He offers—to accept His sacrifice for us and claim Him as ours and ask Him to claim us as His. Then He will see that we are filled with the Holy Spirit and that we will spend all of eternity with Him. We will be filled and satisfied for eternity.
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