Streams of Living Water

Streams of Living Water

Jhn 7:37-39 NIV - On 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. Whoever believes in me, as 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.

None of us are strangers to thirst. Most of us know the sensation of having a cold glass of water flow through our mouths after a long, hard morning/day of summer work. Thirst is essential for life. Anyone with a basic knowledge of chemistry knows how fundamental water is for life in the universe. It is no coincidence, therefore, that Jesus uses water when He speaks to the Jews about eternal life. Jesus “[says] in a loud voice” that “[i]f anyone is thirsty, let him come to [Jesus] and drink.”

What a wonderful analogy! Water is so simple, and so is the path to Christ. We need only to drink of Christ’s water to receive His Spirit. Receiving the Holy Spirit means that “streams of living water will flow from within [us].” Of course, the use of water here is an analogy. The Holy Spirit is certainly not water any more than my head is made of doughnut holes. But the analogy is sound: Jesus has something we need, but to get it, we must drink of Him.

I know I do not think about this often enough. We tend to take for granted the fact that we received Christ’s water. Complacency is such an easy sin that creeps up on us. We forget the dying thirst that burdened us before we drank of Christ. That is why we must recall each day the Holy Spirit that is within us. Jesus lives in YOU! He said that “whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst” (John 4.14).

I think of the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. How we can be so much like the woman! We ask for God to give us water without realizing what we are really asking (John 4.15). The woman thought she was receiving literal water, but she had no idea of the magnitude of Christ’s gift. Beloved, we have no idea of the magnitude of Christ’s gift. We so easily take for granted our salvation, yet that is an active and necessary ingredient for a full and lasting relationship with God. If your life has never been filled with Christ’s water, ask Him into your heart today. Believe that He died and rose again for you, and ask His forgiveness for the sins you have committed in your life. The beautiful thing about water is that it washes away the dirt. When we allow Christ to come into our lives, our sinful nature is washed away. This is what the act of baptism represents. Will you allow Jesus to wash your heart? Amen.

With love in Christ,



Austin Aldrich