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Tag: thirsty

  • Slightly Obsessed #201 A Portrait of Faith: Thirsty

    Slightly Obsessed #201 A Portrait of Faith: Thirsty

    Jesus said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

    – Matthew 5:6

     

    Ask a Christian what the word “faith” means, and you’re likely to hear a quote from the Bible.

    Most of us know at least part of the King James version of Hebrews 11:1, which tells us faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”     

    In a court of law, a conviction or acquittal is based upon the evidence brought before the jury. The Bible assures us our faith is the evidence of an unseen world and its promises. But faith itself has an ethereal quality about it, and we often simply equate it with the idea of believing. But faith is not just belief. It is the expression of our belief before God and man. In James 2:17, we learn faith without works is dead.

    So then, what does faith look like?

    In the next few weeks, we’ll examine some qualities painting the portrait of a believer. Since taking the first step toward God often comes out of a place of emptiness, this might be our first piece of evidence:

    A thirst for righteousness.

    In the beatitudes given to us by the Lord Jesus on the mountain, He called those “blessed” (happy, fortunate, blissful) who hunger and thirst for righteousness. The deep craving for a relationship with God drives us to the well that both cleanses and fills us. The search to know Him should be relentless and lifelong and revealed in what we think, say, and do.

    This search will put us in direct opposition to the societal “norms” imposed today:

    The pressure to fit in by dressing and talking like those we want to impress.

    The relaxation of sexual inhibitions, mocking of those who choose to remain pure.

    The assault on our values though today’s movies, television, social media, and music.

    Choosing to run after God forces us to make choices putting our faith on display to others. It will reveal the unseen to the unseeing, and some will not like it. We may lose friends, family members, and more in the process. The first lesson we learn, then, is that faith is not without cost. But the gain far outweighs the price of discipleship.

     

    But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

    – Romans 10:7-9

     

  • Slightly Obsessed #102: Seize the Flavor, Church

    Slightly Obsessed #102: Seize the Flavor, Church

     

    You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

    – Matthew 5:13

    Imagine a world without salt.

    An elderly man sat in the doctor’s office, scrunched into the little room with the formidable exam table, equipment, the doctor, and two doting family members. The doctor studied the computer screen for a moment and then asked him how much salt he ate with his meals.

    “Too much,” replied one of the family members.

    “But eating salt is Scriptural,” he protested.

    Yes. Amen. I believe.

    Try, if you can, to imagine a world without salt. It would be a sad, sad place. It’s hard to conceive of a movie without buttery, salty popcorn turning your fingers gold and puckering your mouth until you must buy that large pop for $29.95. Do you really want to exist in a backyard barbecue without sour cream and cheddar potato chips? Without salt, life would be so, well…

    Tasteless.

    Although in modern countries salt is plentiful, in ancient times, it was so valuable it was used as money. While too much of it can be detrimental, salt does have some redeeming qualities:

    *It has antiseptic properties.

    *It is necessary for life.

    *It is a preservative.

    *It makes us thirsty.

    *It enhances the flavor of food.

    It’s not hard to see why Jesus called His people the salt of the earth. It’s His plan for us to exhibit these same qualities. We’re called to be a cleansing, preserving force in the world. We’re supposed to provide what’s necessary for life to those who are dying. We should make others thirsty for the living water. We have the power to share our joy in the journey.

    Pure salt can’t lose its flavor. Only salt that’s contaminated is tasteless. Jesus said salt in that state was useless to Him, fit only to be tossed out onto the footpaths.

    Church, it’s time to seize the flavor. Toss out the fillers. Go to the source and get pure again. Be strong. Be purifying, preserving, cleansing, life-giving, and joyful. Let’s quit being tasteless.

    Make ‘em thirsty.

     

  • Slightly Obsessed #042: Leaving Baca Behind

    Slightly Obsessed #042: Leaving Baca Behind

     

    How blessed is the man whose strength is in You,

    In whose heart are the highways of Zion!

    Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring.

    – Psalm 84:5-6

     

    The night eased toward early morning.

    I tossed in my bed trying to shake off the day’s burdens so I could sleep. I knew sleep wouldn’t come, though.

    It’s a rule. Moms can’t rest until their young are back home from wherever they’ve been in the night. I thrashed and prayed in the darkness until I heard the sound of tires crunching up the gravel driveway. With a sigh of relief, I whispered a prayer of thanks.

    Shortly the back door burst open and they came spilling breathlessly into the kitchen, shattering the midnight pall that lay over the house. The Christian concert had done a good job of electrifying the group. They were filled up, spilling over. The wave upon which they rode crested and tumbled out ahead, crashing into my ears with the clean sound of pure joy.

    In the darkness I soaked in the rush of God’s presence that washed through the house and ebbed into swirling little pools teeming with life. It made me long for more of God.

    When did I get so dry?

    At a community well over two thousand years ago, a thirsty woman met a man in Samaria who would change her life.

    She didn’t know she was parched; it was the tired traveler asking for a drink of water. She was surprised a Jew would talk to a Samaritan. She didn’t dream she was talking to her Creator.

    This man didn’t need her to give Him water. He called the first molecules into being by the power of His word alone. He could have commanded rivers to arise at His feet.

    Instead, He sat at the well and stayed thirsty. He waited for her, for the moment she would meet her Maker and He would quench her thirst.

    Water that is living is on the move. It doesn’t collect in stagnant pools. It erupts to the surface from the Rock beneath our feet, clean and pure and alive.

    It’s impossible to be contained. The force of its power brings it upward, outward, flowing onward to renew all it touches.

    Those who love the Master are His fountains, conduits from the source to the surface from which the Spirit reaches out to a dying world. It’s His desire that we allow this outflow to be unrestricted, unimpeded, and unashamed of the joy with which it flings itself toward the sky.

    Life is our Baca, the valley of weeping. As we pass through the desert we call Life, we will encounter much sadness and shed many tears. But if God’s presence dwells in us, we will leave it a different place, a well-spring of life that will never run dry.

     

    Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’

    – John 7:38 (NLT)