I Am Thirsty

A family excitedly opened their door to a team of volunteers who had traveled to their village in a rural region of India to provide a borehole and a simple home water filter system. Demonstrating how the filter would provide safe water to quench their thirst, the team also told the family about “living water” that would satisfy their deepest need—peace with God.

The team members followed Christ’s example of explaining a spiritual reality by relating it to a person’s need to satisfy physical thirst. Weary from travel, Jesus sat down beside a well. After asking a woman there for water, He addressed her deeper need: “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again” (John 4:13-14). Jesus offered her soul refreshment through a relationship with God.

To offer this living water to all people, Christ had to go through the anguish of thirst again. As He hung on the cross, He cried out, “I am thirsty” (John 19:28)—a sign that His life was ebbing away. He willingly suffered, enduring the pain of physical thirst, knowing that God would raise Him to life again. Like the woman at the well, we can have access to living water for our thirsty souls through faith in Jesus.

The volunteer team celebrated when the family enjoyed clean water and rejoiced when they also accepted the gift of living water Christ offers. It’s a gift available to anyone whose soul thirsts.

How does thirst for water relate to spiritual thirst? How have you responded to the offer of living water?

Jesus, my soul is satisfied in You.