2005-07-04 - For Thirsty Souls

Originally Published 2003-08-18

Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation. Isaiah 12:3

"Open your mouth wide and I will fill it," Psalm 81:10.

Someone who I used to work with, and has since died, used to comment upon how much water I drank. Her phrase was that water washes the fat right out of you. In some respects, her phrase is an analogy regarding what Christ does to us concerning sin. Christ cleanses us from the guilt of sin. One of the things I think Scripture tells us clearly concerns the blessings that are ours in Christ. We are prone to forget how blessed we are in the forgiveness that is ours in Jesus Christ. The preachers of old used to have a phrase for the soul that is without Christ. They would say that without Christ, we are "undone." Do you thirst for Christ's mercy?

How do we react to the mercy of Christ? Are we cold toward it? Do our desires lean strongly toward Christ and His grace and kindness, or do we find that we find more joy in other things? These are questions that we must constantly ask ourselves. It is not a one-time assessment, and then all is fine. We must ask ourselves these questions constantly, because sin is waiting at the door, and satan is seeking to lead us in ways that are unbecoming those who are God's covenant children. The Christian still thirsts after the gospel of salvation. Christians have the gospel, and the gospel is for them, but the gospel is not only for those who have believed, but the gospel is also for those who will believe. For those who may be considering Christ, I encourage you to take Psalm 34:8 to heart, "O taste and see that the Lord is good." However, for those who have tasted of the goodness of God's grace, I encourage you to continue to thirst after God's grace and mercy. Continue to long for deeper blessings of His favor upon your lives. God's mercy is a fountain that cannot be exhausted. It cannot be quenched, and if you have drunk deep at that fountain, you know that His grace never runs out.

We are told that in Heaven, there is a river of the water of life, that is clear as crystal and comes from the throne of God and from the Lamb, Revelation 22:1. For those of us who have experienced the living water that flows from the Lord, I really believe there are streams of living water waiting for us that are purer, deeper, and without comparison to anything we have ever experienced on this Earth. To be in Christ is such a blessing, and while we are in our bodies, our thirst for the righteousness of Christ must never be quenched. We all make mistakes, but the Lord's loving arms are ever open and willing to satisfy all those who thirst for the true water of life.

The meaning of earthly existence lies, not as we have grown used to thinking, in prospering, but in the development of the soul." Alexander Solzhenitsy

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

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