Getting Your Tank filled is not Self -Service
Jesus said He came that we might have life...no, not just life but abundant life. I don't know about you but most of my life my "life" registered on the "E" for empty. Before I was saved I was always looking for a place to fill my tank. After I was saved I was always looking for a place to fill my tank. I kept looking for a filling station on earth and come to find out; the things of this earth just left me empty. Does anyone out there know what I mean? I looked for my dreams to fill me. I looked for wifehood to fill me. I looked for motherhood to fill me. I looked for my work to fill me. And of course I looked for religion to fill me. I was a dedicated Christian who really was pretty much all talk and not much walk. Sure I did good things, but why? To be a good Christian of course. Being a Christian was just one big "be and do" list for me. Be good and do good all on your own steam. All these things were great and satisfying to a point but down deep, I was still thirsty for more....of something. This certainly wasn't abundant life. The truth is I was tired! I remember seeing a conversation piece toy that resembled my life. It looked somewhat like an ostrich that was forever bobbing its head up and down for a drink. Never satisfied, it lived its life hoping the next bob would quench its thirst. I remember laughing at it as a child but as an adult, it's wasn't so funny anymore.
Filling Stations
In Jeremiah 2:13 God says His people have committed two sins: 1. "They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters," 2. "To hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." Empty Tanks.
Fueling History
Looking back in my life I can see myself doing my daily bob in one dry cistern or another. Going through the motions but still searching for something or someone to quench that growing thirst deep within. One thing would not satisfy so I would go to my next cistern for...something more. And the next. And the next. It was a life pattern and it’s pretty easy to identify in others’ lives as well. We dip our beaks into cistern after cistern but get more and more thirsty. Parched like a flower in a desert at high noon while the oasis is calling our names. Reading has always been a passion of mine and years ago if I picked up a book, I had to finish it. All books that is except the Bible. I honored it. I gave it a special place on my bookshelf but if I tried to read before bed I would wake up the next morning with my honored Bible on the floor. This was not right and I knew that but how to get a passion for the word? I had asked Jesus to be my Lord and then went on with my agenda for life. When I got a spare moment to read, other books were just more entertaining. I remember lying in bed one night and praying, "Lord, make your word real to me." God heard that simple prayer and went to work. Over the years He has given me a love for His word and made it come alive for me. Usually I was seeking the answer to a problem in those love worn tear splattered pages. Over time my life began to change because I began to change from the inside out. I can look back now and see what a mess I was. I thought I had it all together but I was just bobbing. Even after being saved by believing in Jesus as my savior I still bobbed. Still, God patiently loved me and drew me by His spirit into His word. I came to see the trustworthy and faithful character of God and began to develop a new and amazingly satisfying relationship with Him. Yes, you read that right. He, God, drew me by His indwelling Spirit into a relationship with Him. He loves like no one else. He will never leave me or forsake me. That means that whatever situation I find myself in, He is with me. When I am filled with His love, I can really love others unselfishly. Years after I was saved, I realized I was senselessly bobbing when Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life. I was headed the right way because I was saved by the truth. I had eternal life but daily I was still seeking life elsewhere. When I truly tired of trying to get my needs met my way, I surrendered my life to Him and now live in daily dependence on Him, resting in His soul satisfying love. In Him you can find the answer to your soul's thirst too. God created us for relationship and not just with each other. He wants a relationship with each of His children. He is waiting for each of us to believe in Jesus as our Lord, and then He comes into us and begins to let us see the ultimate emptiness of looking for soul satisfaction anywhere but in Him.
Only the Best Fuel
Only Jesus can satisfy our deepest longings and fill our inner emptyness. He knows what we really need because He knew us before we were ever born. He lovingly knitted us together in our mother’s womb. Only He can fix the mess of our lives. Only He can quench that deep inner thirst. He created us with three basic needs: to be of value or to have significance, to feel secure and to have contentment or peace. His plan was for us to get those needs met in a relationship with Him. We so often decide to fill those empty cups from another water source. Those sources are dry cisterns that cannot satisfy. The Bible was written to people who understood what a cistern was. In the arid desert climate the rains came in the fall. The summer was dry so where did you get the life sustaining water? People dug wells that were fed with underground flowing water, drank from streams or rivers, or dug wells that were reservoirs for rain water. These wells were cisterns as well as other large and small cisterns dug to collect the rain water. When Jesus spoke of himself being the "Living Water," He meant fresh life giving water - not stagnant stored water. Getting a daily water supply was a matter of life and death. Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit when He mentioned living water and all who believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior have the Holy Spirit which comes to reside in you at salvation.
Empty with a Full Tank
So why are we still thirsty for something more when we have the Spirit of the Living God inside us? I have puzzled over this question so often. Think of it like this, if you live in a house with a flowing fountain that is pure, cool and delicious, but you carry around a cup and try to satisfy your thirst from the kitchen faucet, the bathroom sink, an outside hose or bottle after bottle of anything advertised to be wonderful. At the worst moments of life many of us have even dipped our cups down into the toilets of life because sometimes we get so thirsty that we drink from places we don't want to mention. I have and you probably have too. Jesus is not surprised at the messes we make in life. He knew we would make wrong choices even before He died for us but He loves us that much.
My prayer for You dear reader is that you will Live Life Quenched!
