When I went for a walk just after moving to Colorado, I was prepared
for the elevation change and the cooler weather, but what caught me off
guard was the lack of humidity. After living in the Deep South
and the semi-sub-tropical climates of Australia, I was not prepared for
what awaited me: headaches, decreased strength and extreme
thirst. Of course, by the time I realized that I was becoming
dehydrated it was normally too late to avert the symptoms. In all
of this, I became painfully aware of my need for water.
In our
walk with God, we must constantly be aware of our need for living water
(John 4:10) or we may suffer from spiritual dehydration. Without
this living water we will get headaches that will keep us from being in
our right mind, that is the one that we are to be emulating, the mind
of Christ (Philippians 2:5). If we do not drink in of it
regularly we will lack the power and strength that we need to
accomplish our journey (Romans 15:13). When we become aware of
our thirst, we simply need to go to the source of living water and
drink from there (John 7:37-39).
Now is the time when we should
start drinking in of the living water, the Holy Spirit, before our need
is too great. With physical dehydration, we can drink in until
our stomach hurts and though our headache, weakness and thirst will
eventually dissipate, the symptoms that we had developed will not
vanish immediately. The same is true spiritually. We see in the
parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-12) that the ones without
enough of the Holy Spirit were not able to fill their insufficiency
right away. Because of this they missed out on the wedding to the
Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. As we march down this path towards the
Kingdom of God, this is the last thing that any one of us wants to
happen.
As we approach Pentecost, the time of the year when God
first poured out His Holy Spirit on the New Testament Church, we should
be mindful of this great and precious gift that God has bestowed upon
us and made readily available. God is telling us in Revelation 22:17:
“…let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take of the
water of life freely.” Let’s make sure that we are never
found wanting.
