I have all that I need.”
-Psalms 23:1 NLT
I already have “all that I need”? Like in the palm of my hand?There are moments when I feel like I can’t keep much of anything from slipping like sand between my fingers. All that I need? No way.
Way.
Jesus Christ picked his moments – then dropped the truth. He visited Jerusalem for a huge festival, expecting a packed house. God’s word commanded all Jewish men to bring a sacrifice to the festival. Most everybody came.
There, Christ pounced:
On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”
-John 7:37-38 NLT
You see, Christ had a thing about drinking his water. It, alone, could satisfy completely.
Not long before the festival, Christ had told the ostracized woman at the well about the water he offered. He said:
Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
-John 4:14 NLT (emphasis added)
No more thirst. No more need. Satisfied. Overflowing.
Christ quenches our deepest needs – to repair the brokenness of our relationship with a good and holy God, to rescue our immortal souls from eternal punishment in Hell, to assure us of an eternity in Heaven.
Nobody can measure up to Christ. He is God’s only son, but was born and lived in flesh. All God, all man, all at once. Yes he endured hardships and was tempted just like us, but he never disobeyed God and sinned. For his “crimes,” people crucified him. He died. But death had no claim over Christ’s perfect sinless soul. Three days later, Christ rose from the grave and gave death the royal beat down once-and-for-all.
Speaking through the apostle Paul, God laid it out in Romans:
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
-Romans 3:23-24 NLT
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
-Romans 6:23
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
-Romans 10:9-10 NLT
It’s simple; drink Christ’s water. Admit you’ve sinned and can’t do anything to escape your eternal punishment. Put allyour faith in Christ – that he took your punishment for you, for all time. Turn your heart toward God, resolve to follow Christ.
Paul always found Christ to be enough. Through constant travel. Shipwrecked. Rotting in prison. Stoned and left for dead.
And yet, Paul made no bones about it. Christ quenched his every need. Rotting in a Roman prison, Paul let us in on his secret to living in extreme adversity:
I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength.
-Philippians 4:8-9
Christ satisfied Paul’s every need, in every situation. Good and bad.
Like Paul, Christ has never let me down in a pinch. Cancer can wreck people. Sure, I struggle with what I’m walking through, but I also have a peace that I can’t explain. I bet you can’t either.
Trick is, we’ve got to drink His pure water. Positive thinking won’t do it. Medicine alone can’t do it. Nor can thrill-seeking. Or anything else I can scrape together. Onlyseeking Christ and His will for our lives can give lasting peace.
Christ will do the same for you.
Will you let him? Run to him – nowhere else.
Fully Satisfied,
Alan
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