Life Spark: God created us thirsty. (John 4:15-18)
The woman who met Jesus at the well in Sychar was thirsty. She was also thirsty for fulfillment, satisfaction, love and life.
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” (John 4:15, NIV)
Thinking about her thirst for life, Jesus said, “Go get your husband.” She said, “I have no husband.” “That’s true,” Jesus replied, “You’ve had five husbands and you’re now living with a man-friend.” He knew that each of her marriages had been a leaky cistern. Each of her knew relationships were like drinking salt water. Instead of satisfying her deepest thirst for life, they dehydrated her spiritually.
The human race is a thirsty bunch. Thirst for life is a desire that the Creator put in all of His creatures. Why? Why aren’t we just satisfied with survival, content with mere existence? I believe God made us thirsty to draw us to Him. Jesus Christ is both the Thirst-giver and the Thirst-quencher. He is life-giving water to our inner deserts.
God made us thirsty for life and for love. A key part of life, a crucial component of love, is knowing and being known. Like you, like me, the woman at the well had a deep desire to know and be known. She wanted to be known, but at the same time, she was afraid of being known. Maybe she’d been divorced by each of her five husbands. Maybe she felt that anyone who really knew her would see her flaws and write her off.
But now she is being known by Jesus. He knows she’s been looking for life and love in all the wrong places. And yet, she senses no judgment. She’s beginning to be loved with the God-kind-of-love. Part of being fully alive is being known by God, warts and all, and being loved anyway.
Life-action: List three things you are thirsty for. Now write one sentence that describes what you think Jesus would say about those three things.