Good morning and welcome to Thursday’s podcast. I do hope that you have been able to stay warm and dry over the course of this week.

REFLECTION:

Today we tackle the second half of John chapter 7… verses 35-53. Today I am going to focus on v37-38.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

So, here is the question I want to wrestle with today, “what do you desire?” What are your core motivations, what drives you to do the things that you do?

We long for belonging? To be accepted? To be known and loved?

We long to be free? To be in control, to choose, to make up our own minds?

We long to feel safe? To no longer be afraid? To know comfort from the chaos and the pain?

We long for justice? For wrongs to be put right, for life to be fair and equal?

We long to be significant? To make our mark, to leave a legacy, to make a difference?

So what do you desire? What is your heart longing, what is your deepest need?

Jesus said “let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.”

“Thirst” here is to desire, to long for, to be aware of lack. If we’ve not had a drink for a few hours we know about it… we feel thirsty.

In the same way if our internal desires are not met they can begin to shout for attention, they can demand action and fulfilment.

How does this work? How does this play out?

Well let’s take a basic human desire – to be loved and accepted. What happens when we have a bad day at work, we’ve upset a colleague, or incurred the wrath of the boss, or feel that we have let someone down? Our basic desire is not met, we feel hurt, we look for ways to satisfy that deficit. We look for ways to fill that gaping hole. So we seek comfort? We might search out good friends? We might withdraw, pull up the drawbridge to protect ourselves from further hurt. We might open the fridge and eat, have a drink or access porn. We might go shopping and buy something shiny and new. But it’s only a quick fix and depending on the quick fix it might be followed by guilt and shame…

Or what about our need to feel safe and secure? If we experience fear financially, relationally, or from people in power what do we do? Do we seek financial gain to guard against an uncertain future? Do we dominate those around us to ensure we are in control and so cannot be harmed? Do we build emotional walls around our hearts to prevent others getting close to us?

Or have we been made to feel worthless and insignificant and as a result become driven, determined to prove others wrong and win at life?

Jesus said,

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

We all have needs and unmet desires. Jesus invites all of us to come to him and drink. And if we come to him, he will satisfy our deepest longings and desires.

It’s not that these desires disappear so we don’t want safety and security any more. It is that they are satisfied and our thirst is quenched, but rather our safety and security is no longer found in stuff… it’s found in Jesus.

How do we do that?

Well, Jesus says “whoever believes in me” – whoever believes in Jesus, who places their confidence in him. Whoever trusts him… has faith in him… not only will our thirst be quenched but streams of living water will flow from within us…

This isn’t just some intellectual exercise, although filling our heads and our hearts with the promises of God is part of the process, it is a real, genuine, life changing encounter with the promised Holy Spirit.

Have you ever been caught up in wonder, have you ever experienced God’s presence and tears have welled up in your eyes?