Thirst – June 2, 2023

Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.”
John 7:37

Thirst

The more we learn about the human body, the more we see the sophistication of this wondrous machine God has created. Take the simple act of quenching your thirst with a glass of water. Even after years of research, scientists are not certain how it all works. So far, their best guess goes something like this. In your brain is a small area called the lamina terminalis. The lamina terminalis has the ability to monitor when your body needs more fluids. When it does, the lamina terminalis sends you a signal by making you feel thirsty.

But here is where it gets even more interesting. Let’s say you feel thirsty. You fill up a glass with cool, crisp, clean water, and you begin to drink it down. Although it takes quite a while for a glass of water to have a real effect on your body, your lamina terminalis will give you an instant dose of a feel-good transmitter called dopamine. It’s your body’s way of telling you up-front that it’s receiving what it needs.

Each of us, by nature, carries the burden of a deep, desperate thirst. But it does not come from a lack of fluids in the body. Rather, it’s a spiritual thirst. And what causes this thirst is sin—your sin and mine. On our own, we have tried to quench this thirst. We’ve tried money, power, pleasure, entertainment, and success. We may even have tried mind-altering drugs, politics, or better behavior. But nothing works. Nothing satisfies. Nothing quenches the thirst.

Enter God the Holy Spirit. Through the words of the Bible, he speaks to us. As he does, he identifies the one thing that quenches our thirst. What quenches our thirst is forgiveness—forgiveness that God the Son purchased for you and me through his suffering and death on the cross.

“Come to me and drink,” Jesus says. Through the work of his Holy Spirit and by the power of his gospel, be refreshed. Be filled. Be forgiven in Jesus Christ.

Prayer:
Holy Spirit, by your gospel, quench my thirst in Jesus alone. Amen.