The Post Holiday Blues!
Meditation for the week of December 26, 2010
John 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
Wouldn’t it be nice to find something in life that actually lasts, and that actually satisfies? Most of us think new cars are the real deal and one would make us very happy. However, car dealers who sell used cars, remind us that everyone drives a used car. New cars are only new until we drive them off of the lot. The holiday season raises expectations of lasting satisfaction; but once the gits are unwrapped and the mess is cleaned up, once the dishes are all washed and the families all go home, the only thing left to look forward to is next year. If you ask me what I got for Christmas in another month,, I suspect that I will have a hard time remembering. We all need things to enjoy. We all need to look forward to new experiences and new friendships and new seasons in our lives. But when it is all said and done, it is all said and done. The older we get, the more fleeting life seems to be, and the more we realize that nothing in this life really satisfies the human heart. Our possessions get lost or they rust or get broken. Our friendships change. Our bodies break down. So what is this life all about anyway?
The Lord says that our lives should be all about eternity. We should be putting eternity and the Lord first. We should prepare for eternity. He says, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33).” Most of us look for lasting satisfaction in that which does not last. The Lord tells us that He can satisfy us forever. He uses living water which would be clean running water in contrast to cistern water as a way to explain how to get permanent satisfaction. Physical thirst has to be quenched over and over again. We have a spiritual thirst that can be satisfied permanently if we would just let the Lord do what He does. He makes eternal sense out of a life that would make no sense if all it involved was to be born, grow up, look for new experiences and friends and things, and then die. The Lord knows how futile all that would be. But He offers water that will quench our thirst for ever. It will bring permanent joy instead of temporary happiness.
Now that the holiday season is almost over and we go into the dismal month of January, we get to experience the emptiness of knowing that there are no holidays of importance in January. January in our area (Iowa) will have two weeks of weather that will make us question our concern about global warming and our sanity for living here. Our cars may not start. If they do start we probably shouldn’t go any where because if they stop and we are left on the highway, we will probably freeze. Our families and friends will have gone back to their homes and their jobs and unless we have drunk of the water that satisfies, January could be a very depressing time. Nothing in this life lasts or satisfies permanently. That isn’t to say that we don’t enjoy the memories of the holidays, but it seems that we need something more.
We need the water that satisfies and that springs up like a flowing artesian well. The joy that comes when we believe that the Lord has satisfied God with regard to our sin is lasting and satisfying. That joy must be experienced to be understood. You can put a rock on some springs of water and the pressure of the water will just cause it to start flowing somewhere else. The joy of a Christian who is filled with Holy Spirit because he has been satisfied by the living water of the Lord’s providing is somewhat like that.
Even January cannot stifle that joy.
Bruce Collins