Spiritual dehydration

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive (John 7:37-39).

There are people who wonder what being a Christian is supposed to be all about. They have heard the words of Jesus and have come to believe in Him as their rescuer from sin, death and the devil, but they have unanswered questions. They think, "so I believe in Jesus and will go to heaven—great! But what do I do right now? The Bible tells me that I can’t impress God by the things that I do—only belief in Jesus guarantees me life after death. So what am I supposed to do with my life, being a Christian? If I don’t have a list of things that I need to do to win God’s favor, what am I supposed to do with the days of my life? How is the life of a Christian different from the life of an unbeliever?

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus speaks of how a Christian’s life differs from the life of anyone else. He tells us, Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. As Christians, we are sources of living water; we bring life to those who do not believe. But just what is this living water, where does it come from, and how is it that we have it to give away?

In Jeremiah 17:13, the prophet prays to God with these words: O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water. Jeremiah compares the life that God gives to "living water." Now, "living water" is fresh, running, healthy water; it is the opposite of dead, stagnant water, the kind of water where bacteria flourish. Stagnant water makes a person sick, if he drinks it—living water, on the other hand, refreshes and preserves life. Jeremiah speaks his words poetically; he uses the image of cool, refreshing, living water to describe the life and hope that God gives to those who trust in Him.

Jesus picks up on this imagery in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John. When speaking with a Samaritan woman at a well in the heat of the day, He told her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." When the woman showed her lack of understanding, Jesus went on to explain, "whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Here, Jesus equates living water to the life that God gives through faith in Jesus, life that can survive the death of the body because Jesus has removed the poison of sin from it.

Water is essential for human life. Deprive a person of water, and eventually he will dehydrate and die. Water makes life possible. Without water in your arteries and veins, your blood would be too thick for your heart to pump oxygen and nutrients throughout your body. Without water, your body could not rid itself of the toxic build-up of waste. Without water, your skin could not produce sweat and your body would become overheated. Without water, the balance of chemicals in your brain would be upset, disturbing your personality and your ability to think clearly. A person will die more quickly of dehydration than he will of starvation.

Just as water makes physical life possible, so does Jesus make spiritual life possible. God creates each human soul. God gives each human soul vitality by showering it with love through family, friends, and members of His Church. But when we allow sin to keep us away from those who love us, when we ignore or push away God and the love He wants to give us, we begin to dehydrate. Just as physical dehydration causes the body to start shutting down, so does spiritual dehydration start causing the soul to go numb and start shutting down. Just as physical dehydration distorts our personalities and our ability to think clearly, so does spiritual dehydration make us bitter, twisted, and unable to see the truth of things in our lives.

Jesus came among us in the flesh to save us from spiritual dehydration. He brought living water for us to drink, water that restores health and preserves life. That living water is available to us through belief in Jesus; all we need do is trust that the water He holds out to us is living water, not stagnant, poisonous water. All we need do is turn our backs on choosing to dehydrate in our sinful foolishness, and welcome the offer of forgiveness and life drawn from God Himself.

Jesus made this offer of life possible. When we rejected God’s living water, we angered Him—we angered Him because He gave us both physical and spiritual life, and we rejected Him through our sins, the sins that prefer the stagnant waters of human teachings and priorities over the living waters of God’s love and guidance. But in spite of His anger at our sins God still loved us, and He appointed His Son Jesus to give us access to the living waters once more; He did this by dying for our sins on the cross. Through His death Jesus became the source of living water for us, as we read in chapter 19 of the Gospel of John: But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. It is Jesus’ blood that makes the living water to be a life-giving water; this is why we read in Revelation 22:1, Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Jesus said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." But when we drink, something remarkable happens. When we drink from Jesus’ words preserved in God’s holy Bible, the Holy Spirit comes and builds faith in our hearts. In 1st Corinthians chapter 12 Paul wrote, no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. When we turn our backs on spiritual dehydration and trust in the living water’s power to restore our lives, it is because the Holy Spirit has been at work within us, showing us our thirst, our need for salvation.

As we are filled with living water, we are filled with the Holy Spirit; but the Spirit is infinite where we are not, and so He bursts forth from us in streams of living water, waters which flow from within us. At the beginning of this meditation, the question was asked how is the life of a Christian different from the life of an unbeliever? This is how—the Holy Spirit, like streams of living water, flows from the Christian to bring life to all who surround him. It is the purpose of the Spirit of God to create spiritual life through faith where there is now only spiritual death; consequently, one thing that sets a Christian life apart from an unbeliever’s life is that he speaks about Jesus to others. Jesus brings us life, love, comfort, strength and hope—how can we not share with others the happiness and reassurance and security that we have?

How does this sharing take place? Through everyday conversations in everyday places. When given a compliment on a job well done, the unbeliever says, "thank you"—but the Christian will instead give glory to God by saying, "I had Jesus’ help." When telling of how he avoided tragedy in a dangerous situation, the unbeliever says, "I was lucky"—but the Christian will instead thank God by saying, "the Lord was protecting me." When feeling depressed, the unbeliever will complain, "I don’t know what I’m going to do"—but the Christian will instead express confidence in God by saying, "I need to pray about this."

Sharing also takes place during times of crisis. When an unbeliever tries to comfort a loved one immersed in tragedy, he says, "I’m here for you"—but when a Christian comforts a loved one, he prays with her, reads Scripture to her, and shares with her times when he himself experienced the power of Jesus working in his life, even if he didn’t recognize it at the time.

And, of course, sharing happens through Christ’s Church. Sharing happens when you invite an unbelieving friend to come to worship or Bible study with you. Sharing happens when you contribute to the church, in order that clergy and missionaries be supported in proclaiming God’s Word. Sharing is supported when you serve the Church as a voter or an officer of the congregation.

Another job of the Holy Spirit is to strengthen the faithful. It is Christian to build up others, to strengthen them and support them as brothers and sisters in Christ. Unbelieving members in a bowling league spend time trying to impress each other—but Christians spend their time complimenting each other. Unbelieving members of a business office spend time criticizing each other—but Christians spend their time forgiving each other. Unbelieving members of a high school clique spend time getting into trouble as a group—but Christians spend their time helping each other to resist the temptation to do things contrary to God’s desires.

Finally, the presence of the Holy Spirit within us shows itself in how the Christian acts as he lives his life. In Galatians chapter five, Paul contrasts the character of the sinful nature with the character of the person in whom the Holy Spirit lives; the acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

When Jesus said streams of living water will flow from within him, He did not mean that we are the source of the living water; it is the Holy Spirit, living in us through faith, that fills our lives with renewed life, and reaches out through us to touch others with life. This is why Paul wrote, We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us (2 Corinthians 5:20). The life of the Christian is radically different from the life of the unbeliever—it is a life characterized by care for the souls of others, not just care for their bodies; it is characterized by giving of ourselves, our time, and our resources, instead of loafing in selfish greed; it is characterized by a struggle against temptation, instead of wallowing in every filthy habit invented by men. Living as a Christian is not a perfect life, because we constantly fail to serve our Lord as He expects us to; but we live life with the confidence that every sin can be forgiven, the security of knowing that we are loved, and the hope that God will do great things for those we love through us.

The Christian life is very different than the unbeliever’s life, and because of the Holy Spirit, the Christian life is a wonderful life.