"Jesus stood up and shouted, "If you are thirsty, come to me and drink! Have faith in me, and you will have life-giving water flowing from deep inside you!" John 7:37
We are told to do two things:
(1) Let him come to Me and (2) drink. They are connected.
- Jesus tells us to come to Him.
The biggest problem of Christianity is not that there are people fed up with Christianity but that many so-called people that supposedly come to Jesus are dead dry. They might sit in churches on Sunday morning but are dry as dead bones. They might hold a pew Bible. They might even carry one back and forth to church, but there is not one drop of living water in them.
We must not equate 'coming to Jesus' with attending a church service or going through a ceremony of baptism. Of course there are people who have met Jesus there. But many find a church just because they want a religion that tells them that they are good people. A little pampering, and they are able to forget the thirsts of the soul. Jesus has countered every religion by showing us that we have absolutely nothing to bring before God but our sins and despair. If you can notice your heart needs, your sins will be nearby. If you can acknowledge your heartaches, you probably are very aware of your own sins. Our heart sufferings stem from our sins.
Let us return to what Jesus meant by 'coming to Him.' If you feel the Lord prodding your heart, then you should also be aware of Jesus' presence. Jesus is here at this moment. You have heard correctly that He has died, but He has also risen. He is alive and as King of Kings presides over all through the Holy Spirit. He is seeking out His people. When He calls, you should listen and go to Him.
- And Drink
When we come to Jesus we are to drink from Christ. This might sound rather mystical. You really need to meet Jesus to know what He means. The point is that when you are so broken before Him, you have all these inner dry caverns deep in your soul that open up. The pains and superficiality of life has haunted you through the years but figured this was what life was supposed to be like.
How about your own soul? Can you sense someone prodding your heart? Don't harden your heart. You might even hear words like, "You are no good" or "If people really knew what you were like, then they …." This is the evil one trying to keep you dry. The truth is that we are desperate people and when you acknowledge that, then He comes to help. If you sense this prodding, just tell Jesus to speak and fill your soul's thirst.
Boy, there are numerous sentences in this reading with which, either because of meaning or wording, I beg to differ.
For example: “He is alive and as King of Kings presides over all through the Holy Spirit.” My, how I believe the meaning would be more accurate if “presides” were “resides” and the preposition “over” were changed to “in”; thus, the sentence would read: “He is alive and as King of Kings resides in all through the Holy Spirit.”
Secondly, “If you can notice your heart needs, your sins will be nearby. If you can acknowledge your heartaches, you probably are very aware of your own sins. Our heart sufferings stem from our sins.” Really??????? Oh, my goodness. So, if this is the case, are we reverting to the scripture in the Old Testament that tells us that “the sins of the fathers will be visited on the sons”? So, my “heart sufferings” because my father is dead are because, not that I grieve for his lack of physical presence on this earth and with his being with me, but because of my sins and/or his? And any time my “heart suffers” as when I see someone I know and/or love suffering from and/or dieing because of cancer, it is because of my sins? And how about my “heart sufferings” when I hold a dog in my arms as he breathes his last breath? Is that too because of my sins? Then, are these words suggesting that I have caused all of my “heart sufferings” because I am a sinful person; thus my “heart sufferings” are caused by my sins. Oh, my, what a burden on each and all of us if this were true! I thought my “heart sufferings” were caused by my heart and that my heart is a heart for and made by God and gifted to me by Him; thus, it shows compassion and empathy as well as love. If my “heart sufferings” are caused by my sins, I would rather “pluck it out” as is suggested in the Old Testament rather than keeping it and growing it closer to God — heart to heart — and rather than trying to grow it to become more like Christ in its loving, patience, acceptance, tolerance, and forgiveness. Don’t tell me that my “heart sufferings” are caused by my sins. Tell me rather that my “heart sufferings” are because my heart, given to me by the Father, is growing closer to Him and more like His because it is experiencing “heart sufferings” like He does when He watches what is thought and goes on in His creation. My “heart sufferings” are not caused by my sins but caused by my heart gifted to me by my compassionate and loving God.
Third — “Jesus stood up and shouted, ‘If you are thirsty, come to Me and drink! Have faith in Me, and you will have life-giving water flowing from deep inside you!’”
Yes, what an invitation!!!!!!! My “heart sufferings” surround those who, as of yet either have not ever and/or only partially “come thirsty to be refreshed and renewed.” But look at the wording of the scripture passage while looking at the imagine created and the words NOT used and/or said — “…you will have life-giving water flowing from deep inside you!’” “Life-giving water”…to whom and for whom? Only me? Only the ones who come? Water giving “me” eternal life and water sustaining “me” while on earth. But, incumbent in this gift, is there not also the command to offer and give this “life-giving water” to others, who, as we were once, in desperate need of a drink? And, how about the statement that “…life-giving water [is] flowing from deep inside of us!’” Is there also not an invitation — more like a command — within this invitation for us to offer and give to others this “life-giving water that is flowing from deep inside us”? The scripture is not suggesting that the water is “ponding inside of us,” being placed there with the Lord’s intention that it will stay there to be hoarded by and used only by us for ourselves and no one else. It is not to be stagnent but to be alive, and alive because it flows out like a waterfall falling on those who need the “life-giving water” to be cleansed and encouraged to drink and live. The scripture says it is “flowing from deep inside us” and, thus, flowing outward to be given away, to be like one drop which adds to another one drop which adds to another one drop; and before long, there is a river of “life-giving water” flowing from so many one drops to so many others who themselves will become drops of living water.
And, at least to me, hidden within these words referencing “life-giving water flowing from deep inside us” is the implied image of light in that as water gives life as it flows so does light as it flows, thus shines. So, does this passage not, therefore, invite us to come but also to give; thus, not to keeping for only ourselves? Does not this passage indicate that we shall be given with the expectation that we will give drink to the thirsty and Son to the withering and dieing? “To those who have been given much, much is expected.” More often than just being reminded that we ourselves are to drink and be refreshed, we should be reminded that our drinking and being refreshed is not just for ourselves; that the grace which has guided us to “Come and drink” expects and commands that we give our gift to others.
And lastly, “hardened hearts.” Oh, how I hate “hardened hearts”!!!!!!! And, oh, how I so often wonder about and have difficulty determining if the tool of “hardened hearts” is one of the devil or one of God’s and who it is — the devil or God — who is using the tool, for whatever reason, when I encounter “hardened hearts” in those whom I know and love. Perhaps, as I do know, those with the “hardened hearts” cannot “see the forest for the trees” and so should admit the possibility that they have a “hardened heart”; and in realizing that they by themselves cannot soften it, need then to turn to God in prayer for His assistance as well as letting friends who have “come when Christ called” and have “living-water flowing from deep inside them” share in the softening by helping and by sharing the light of the Son in smiles and hugs of uplfting, under girding, and encouragement. It would seem to me that the “life-giving water” and all it entails, given away to those with the “hardened hearts,” would be just the right softening agent.