Resources/Articles
Drinking the Bottled Water
Our country has been on a bottled water binge for a number of years. Many view the spring water or the purified water as “safe drinking.” We are told the packaged water does not have all the additive municipal water purification plants add to the water before distributing it to the public. Although water is free from public faucets and drinking fountains, people still purchase bottled water. People choose to pay for something “better for you” rather than enjoy it at no cost in most public places. Does that mean paying for a product is more superior to something you can receive for free?
Is there something we would pay for spiritually because we know it will “get us to heaven”? We are not able to pay our way into heaven. Jesus is the one who has paved the way (John 14:6; Hebrews 12:2). We could not pay the price our Lord paid. He paid it all. All to Him I owe. I owe Him my life, my all (Matthew 22:37). Instead of me believing there is some extraordinary deed or charitable act I can do to “get to heaven,” I need to see how I can reach and drink of the “living water” Jesus provides (John 4:10).
The first consideration should be how thirsty you are. Is your greatest thirst spiritual or physical? You may believe God, but your belief should carry you to “diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). This is not a one-time quenching of thirst. Our lives should forever long for quenching only in the “living water” provided in Christ. True thirst in Him leads to true fulfillment (Matthew 5:6). As Jesus said in John 4:14, this water Jesus gives “shall become in him a well of water springing up into eternal life.” (Consider Revelation 21:6.)
We can thirst for all the world provides, drink its pleasures, and gulp all it offers, but none will achieve the salvation nor hope we need, no matter if it is free. There is often a price to pay for saving our lives rather than losing it for Christ (Mark 8:36-38). For all we exchange for what Jesus offers to quench our spiritual thirst, remember this: God’s fountain will never run dry. Drink from this life giving stream today.
