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The Right Thirst

By Barbara J. Scott
Have you ever been so thirsty that you felt if you could just get something to drink you would be alright? So, you drink soda and you find you are still thirsty. Then you drink some juice and you are still thirsty. No matter what you drink, it doesn't quench that thirst until you drink a glass of nice cold WATER. Water is what quenches that deep yearning, the thirst of our bodies.
The Right Thirst

Have you ever been so thirsty that you felt if you could just get something to drink you would be alright? So, you drink soda and you find you are still thirsty. Then you drink some juice and you are still thirsty. No matter what you drink, it doesn't quench that thirst until you drink a glass of nice cold WATER. Water is what quenches that deep yearning, the thirst of our bodies.

In Luke 19:41-42 and 44, the account of Jesus riding into Jerusalem it is written: "And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. …because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." Jesus wept because Israel did not receive Him, their Messiah Who had come to save them. Now looking back at Jesus on the cross we can see that His thirst was not for water, but for the souls of mankind. After all, this is why He came to earth. He came to destroy the works of the devil, the enemy of our souls. In this passage, the Lord Jesus Christ was yearning over Israel's salvation. Yet Israel didn't even realize that her salvation had come. Her deliverence was at hand and by her rejecting Jesus, she rejected her freedom. He was thirsting for Israel's deliverance.

We are not unlike Israel. Jesus wants to give us His love and we reject Him by accepting the lust of the world; running after people, places, and things, making Him last in our lives. "And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30-31. Jesus prayed that we would love Him as the Father loves Him. "…That the love wherewith Thou has loved Me may be in the, and I in them." John 17:26b. Jesus yearns to fill us with His love. "If a man loves Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him." John 15:23.

Jesus thirsts to give us His joy. He said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." John 16:11. We accept the happiness of the world, which lasts only as long as it makes us feel good. Happiness depends on our circumstances. The joy of the Lord dwells deep down in our soul and goes on and on no matter what our circumstances are. Jesus yearns to give us His peace. We instead try to find peace by compromising with the world. The world cries peace and there is no peace. Jesus is our peace, He is the Prince of Peace. There can be no compromise. "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you…" John 14:17.

Jesus thirsts for us to be like Him, serving those who are oppressed or with Christ in their lives. We tend to put aside those who are not like us. If they are not as holy as we think we are, we don't want to have anything to do with them. When Jesus healed the leper, He did something unthinkable to the religious leaders in His day. "When He was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. Jesus put forth His hand, and touched Him, saying I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed."  Notice first of all, Jesus had to "come down from the mountain". We want to stay up on the mountain and not touch those down in the valley. Jesus is thirsting for us to reach out to the down-trodden. But we say, "I send this and I send that…" and Jesus says, "GO"! "GO when you can, GO where you can. Let them see you, let them feel your loving touch!"

We have to commit to changed thinking and behavior in order to be like Jesus, and thirst as He thirsts. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." Matthew 5:6. Thirst for righteousness because all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Isaiah 64:6. The woman at the well realized she needed to change her thirst after she met Jesus. She no longer wanted to thirst for lust, - but for the love of God and Jesus, the Living Water. When we yield to the Lord Jesus Christ, He becomes our Righteousness. "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 1 Corinthian 1:30. The Lord Jesus Christ is available to satisfy our thirst. He invites us to come to Him and drink and live. He is available to quench our thirst, but will we offer Him vinegar for His?

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