Tuesday, March 17
Psalm 78:1-39
Jeremiah 7:21-34*
Romans 4:13-25
John 7:37-52
A billion dollar industry has developed in the last couple of decades in the western world. Consumers purchasing this product can be very particular about its quality, flavour, composition and origin. It comes in an endless variety of bottles, and advertisers for this product promise refreshment, longevity, youthful beauty, increased concentration and health with regular consumption. What am I talking about?
Water.
Bottled water.
Yes, it is flavoured, mineral, glacier water perhaps, but it is still water.
People tote their water bottles with them everywhere, seeking to gain its healthful benefits. Corporate businessmen, conference speakers, marathon runners, models and students alike guzzle down this precious liquid from designer bottles. Mothers encourage toddlers to drink it frequently from sippy cups and others carry their bottles everywhere in backpacks to be sipped at regular intervals throughout the day.
We believe the promises of health, refreshment and beauty that we read of in our magazines and see on TV commercials. We know that we need water for the essentials of life. We are willing to pay exorbitant prices for this source of life and happiness - the fountain of youth.
But what about our true source of life and happiness which Jesus promises to all who will receive it without cost.
"If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."
Think if we could demonstrate the same dedication to drinking from the fountain of eternal life - drinking of the Spirit of Jesus. He gives it freely and generously to all who ask of Him. We can start the day with a huge tumbler of crystal clear refreshment. We can pause at intervals throughout the day to drink a cup or two. As we work at our desks we can sip it regularly throughout the working day. It is the purest, most delicious, refreshing drink imaginable. We need only to turn to the source of life, our Lord Jesus. What is also remarkable is that it then becomes not only a source of refreshment for ourselves. It becomes a source of refreshment for those that we meet and serve throughout the day.
Water is essential for our physical life and health.
The water of the Spirit is essential for our spiritual life and health.
Drink deeply. Drink regularly. Find refreshment and renewed strength. Find Jesus.
The Lord, the fountain of living waters. (Jeremiah 17:13)
I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. (Isaiah 43:20)
And the Lord shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make your bones fat : and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. (Isaiah 58:11)
John 7:37-52
37On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as[c] the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
40On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet."
41Others said, "He is the Christ."
Still others asked, "How can the Christ come from Galilee? 42Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family[d] and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" 43Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.
Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders
45Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?"
46"No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards declared.
47"You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. 48"Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them."
50Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51"Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"
52They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet[e] does not come out of Galilee."
37On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as[c] the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
40On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet."
41Others said, "He is the Christ."
Still others asked, "How can the Christ come from Galilee? 42Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family[d] and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" 43Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.
Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders
45Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?"
46"No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards declared.
47"You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. 48"Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them."
50Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51"Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"
52They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet[e] does not come out of Galilee."
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