Latest Rants, Philosophy/Spiritual
I know quite a few atheists, agnostics, or those who just don’t care about what happens next and don’t want to think about it. They are comfortable in their lives, as bleak as this world may be, and don’t want to bother thinking about the life after this, if there is one.
Frankly, I can understand the latter two positions, at least from a logical and biological point of view.
Necessity drives innovation. If we have no necessities that we must strive to obtain, then it’s very easy to become complacent. It’s in our nature. Think about it: how many are stuck in dead-end jobs that they don’t like just because it pays them just enough so that they can come home, sit on the couch, pop open a beer and binge watch a series on Netflix. It’s not a glorious life, but it’s just comfortable enough. Further, we are so preoccupied with our constant notifications and interruptions that we often just don’t feel we even have the time to see if there is something else out there. We just want some downtime without diving into the deepest parts of the soul.
Agnosticism really bleeds into this latter category. It is essentially the mindset that we can’t know the truth and/or we really don’t care enough to look for it. Again, this goes with human nature and I can get it. I’m not saying I agree; I’m saying it’s understandable.
Atheism, on the other hand, is its own creature.
Atheism is an antagonistic view that opposes something that it doesn’t believe exists, which seems contrary to the most basic logic. However, I need not go into that analysis here and will probably address in greater detail in another article. I want my focus to be on the gamble, or illogical forfeit of atheism.
Let’s try a hypothetical.
Let’s say you’re dying. You and I sit down at table, and I offer you a free glass of water and inform you that there’s a 1% chance that the medicine in this water will cure your disease… and you’ll never die. It’s not guaranteed, but there’s a chance. Would you take it? I would. I might ask for 100 more glasses and get chugging. Atheism is basically you slapping aside the possible miracle glass and saying, “let me die.”
Let me explain.
We’re all dying; you, me, everyone on this earth. As my dad used to joke, “there are only two things certain in life, death and taxes.” All our days are numbered; we don’t know how much time we have left. It could be fifty years; it could be fifty minutes. Then, at that point, one of two things will happen: absolutely nothing as an atheist believes, or we enter into the spiritual realm, as a deist believes.
Atheism is so sure of itself that it says there is absolutely zero chance of an afterlife, that the atheist going to actively oppose any mentality to the contrary, and reject any free chance at a life after this.
But here’s the question: Why?
Are you, the atheist, really 100% sure that there is no afterlife? Other than the slight dopamine hit from your sense of superiority, what advantage does your belief system offer you? Even if you’re 99% sure, wouldn’t it be worth it to explore the potential beliefs of others: the beliefs that others hold onto as tightly as your grasp on the non-existence of God?
If a believer dies and it turns out the atheist was right, then the believer is not worse off than him. They’re both dust; the end. But if a believer happened to embrace and follow the Truth, then that believer is in a much, much better position… for eternity. On the other hand, the atheist has willfully rejected the Truth and may have to suffer eternally for it, whereas the believer took the free drink of living water and was given eternal life.
Embracing atheism is like going into a test that you’re not familiar with and, rather than trying to make your best effort, you sit on the floor and say “I refuse! I acknowledge no test!”
Again, maybe you’re right, maybe there isn’t a test; maybe there isn’t an afterlife. But if there is (and there is), even if there is only a slight chance that there is an afterlife, isn’t that something worth at least trying for, rather than embracing nothingness?
It’s a logical thing.
You’re not gambling with atheism, you’re forfeiting.
………
I was going to end this article here, but I feel impressed to discuss something else along these lines. I do not want to offend anyone, and if I do, I’m sorry, but I feel I must continue here.
Have you ever considered your belief system might have faults? This can apply to atheism or any religious system. Or are you so convinced (blinded) by the perceived inerrancy of your belief system that you refuse to even look outside of your own framework? I grew up in a system like that. I grew up in a system that warned against any outside voices. Anything that was contrary to the beliefs I was learning must be shunned, for they were from the devil. “Don’t even listen to them, even if they are coming from our own former leaders.” That’s what I was told and that’s what I believed… for so many years of my life.
Going to law school was good for me. It taught me to think. It taught me how to critically analyze multiple sides of any situation and to weigh the evidence. It taught me that we need to challenge our own beliefs. You think this guy is a liar? Let’s investigate the evidence, let’s see the arguments and weigh it all out. There’s a quote, author unknown, that goes something like this: “Anything that can be destroyed by the truth, most certainly should be.”
Are you so blinded by the lies you grew up with, or subsequently convinced yourself with, that there is no room for weighing evidence, whether new or old? If so, you’re in a cult, and maybe a cult of your own making. One thing every human being with any common sense knows: we, as human beings, know very little about the reality of life and our own universe. Claiming “science” has declared it and that a belief shouldn’t be questioned comes from a cult, not science, and goes against true scientific inquiry. A religion that tells you to ignore that part of the faith and put it on a shelf is not a true religion; it is a false religion afraid of the truth. I am reminded of a quote by Timothy Keller I read many years ago in “The Reason for God” (a really good book if you want a logical argument for the existence of and reason for God), showing how we’re supposed to have doubts and we’re supposed to challenge our beliefs:
A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A person’s faith can collapse almost overnight if she has failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection.
Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts—not only their own but their friends’ and neighbors’. It is no longer sufficient to hold beliefs just because you inherited them. Only if you struggle long and hard with objections to your faith will you be able to provide grounds for your beliefs to skeptics, including yourself, that are plausible rather than ridiculous or offensive. And, just as important for our current situation, such a process will lead you, even after you come to a position of strong faith, to respect and understand those who doubt.
Don’t doubt your doubts. Investigate your doubts; see if they have legs to stand on. If you have no doubts, then you probably haven’t investigated your situation very well; because everyone has doubts. Faith is a virtue; blind faith is not.
I don’t know whose reading this, maybe no one, but there is truth out there… the Truth, and He has living water for you. Just ask Him.
I’m happy to discuss with you as well – anytime. Love you all.
Latest Rants, Philosophy/Spiritual
Growing up as a child, I repeatedly heard the same story as an analogy attempting to explain the atonement/grace of Jesus Christ. Although it has been a couple decades, the story goes something like this.
A young son desperately wants to earn enough money to buy a bicycle. He goes to his father, who tells him to save up his money and do extra work around the house. Over the next several weeks and months, the young boy chips in a lot around the house, works very hard, and saves every penny he earns. After saving and working hard for a long period of time, his father takes in two the store so he can go look at a bike. He arrives in the store, sees the price tag on the bike, and immediately his heart melts and he becomes very discouraged. The father, realizing that his son doesn’t have the money, questions, “well son, how much do you have?” The son then pulls out some wadded-up bills and a handful of coins and lays them on the counter; a few dollars at most, a far cry from the bike which was going to cost well over $100. The father then hugs his son, takes the few dollars that he earned, and the father graciously pays for the bike.
Indeed, this goes along with the LDS teaching, that we are “saved by grace, after all we can do.” 2 Nephi 25:23. Even though we can’t really contribute much, we still have to contribute something, even if it is just a handful of wadded-up bills and coins.
However, there are several concerns about this analogy, only the first of which was apparent to me as a child. The first concern is that the father instructed the child on how to earn enough money. However, the child was reliant on the father, at least largely, to be that source. In other words, was it really the child’s fault that his father only gave him a nickel when he chipped in and worked extra hard around the house? The father in this example, perhaps, was a cheapskate for months and then got to act as a hero at the end of the story, despite his being the source of the money all along.
However, there is even a greater concern we’re looking at here.
What about the other children of the father? What if the first really wasn’t helping out that much, and yet the father’s daughter had worked extremely hard for not just a few months but for over a year and had actually saved up enough to purchase two-thirds of the bike? How is she going to feel when her father gets her the same bike he bought for her lazy brother?
Do you see the issue?
When we contribute anything, literally anything at all, it creates an air of competition and comparison. “Johnny only earned three cents when I earned twelve dollars, and we both got the same bike, that’s not fair.”
It also creates the question of “how much is enough?” Will we ever really know if we’ve done enough to merit God’s mercy? What if we came up two cents, or just one lie, shorter than necessary… are we doomed?
So rather than coming up with clever analogies, why don’t we look to the actual words of Jesus Christ when we’re trying to address this dilemma?
The Bible gives us a parable of Jesus, quite similar to the LDS analogy above, but from Christ himself. In the parable of the Worker’s in the Vineyard. In Matthew 20:1-16 we read as follows (ESV):
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Are you telling me I worked for twelve hours and got paid the same as the lazy jerk who worked for an hour?
Do you see how allowing a fallen human being any contribution to their salvation will never be “fair?”
So wait Chris, you’re telling me I don’t have to do any work to be saved, but then you show me a parable about workers, working, in a vineyard?
Yes, I thought of that irony as well. However, if this is what you’re thinking, then you’re missing the point of the parable. Who had control over the wages? Who determined how much each worker got paid? Who decided that the ones who had slacked off all day before coming to work still got paid? The master. Every worker was totally and completely reliant on the master, who has the freedom to handle his property as he best sees fit. Your labor and toiling all day will not get you any further in your salvation than the one who showed up at the last hour. The master holds the keys to the kingdom; it’s his property.
When it comes to our salvation, it’s a story about the Master, not what we’ve done or can do.
Indeed, this is why the Bible says that we were “dead in trespasses and sins.” As Paul states:
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7 (ESV)
How much can someone who is dead contribute to anything? If you asked that dead person to hand you something, how do you think that’s going to work out? Yet, that is exactly what we were before Christ: dead as a corpse, but it was Christ who “made us alive.”
He did all of the work. All of it. Literally, all of it.
And if you really think about it, this is the only way it’s fair, for everyone. Regardless of circumstance or opportunity, regardless of how much we’ve strayed, regardless of anything we’ve done, all we need to do is turn and accept the gift of grace that is right there. It’s freely available to everyone. Will there be good works associated with our salvation? Of course, but as a fruit of your salvation, not a means to earn it
Jonathan Edwards said that “You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.” Indeed, the Bible teaches us that “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)
So, as a human, I feel a hesitancy here, and I’m sure you do too. “You’re telling me I don’t have to do anything for my salvation?” It feels fake. It feels too good to be true. I must do something, right?
Well, again, let’s see what Jesus says.
In John we read, after Jesus had performed his miraculous multiplying of the fishes and loaves, the people were asking him what works they should be doing. We read the following:
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” John 6:27-29 (ESV)
Boom. Mic drop.
That is your work. Believe.
And the more I thought about this, the more I realized this was the ongoing theme of Jesus. When he healed the blind, did they contribute anything to their healing? When he made the deaf hear, did they have to memorize some verses first or go through some ritual? No, he did everything. Even the woman who had the discharge for years, who snuck up behind Jesus, touching his cloak was healed. When Jesus met with the Samaritan woman at the well, what’s the prescription he gave for how to be saved? Just ask and he will give living water. See John 4:7-10.
And so, what does that mean for us?
Total reliance on Jesus for our salvation. Stop trying to earn it and trust in him as your Lord and Savior. Stop following any prophet, pastor, or leader who tells you anything that contradicts the teachings of the Christ. You don’t need a recommend or a ritual to save you.
His grace, given through faith, is what saves. That’s it.
End of story.
Latest Rants, Philosophy/Spiritual
If you’re a Christian, or if you have friends who are Christians, you may have seen posts expressing severe concern over the latest phase of government overreach, where virtually all nations are now forcing their people to have a digital ID and are similarly pushing for digital currency and the elimination of paper currency. In Europe they are forcing it on their people even though the vast majority don’t want it. But wouldn’t that just make things more convenient? Indeed, you can just wave your hand to pay for your groceries, you never have to worry about losing your passport, and you won’t have cash so you won’t get mugged (unless they cut your hand off and can use that). Seems like a pretty sweet deal, right?
Well, even from a non-religious point of view, ordinary citizens should be very concerned, because the government rarely stays within its boundaries. For example, let’s say you’re against abortion and you post regularly about how wicked it is and you advocate for your state to ban it entirely. Let’s say your governor (or President) doesn’t like your point of view and now all of a sudden you’re locked out of your house and you’re showing a balance of zero in your digital bank account.
Let’s do the inverse for the more liberally minded. Let’s say you’re for abortion, and President Trump is pressuring states to ban it entirely. You post on social media how evil he is and how he violates a woman’s right to choose. Now you’re in the same boat. Your electric car won’t start. You can’t take the subway because your ID isn’t working; you can’t even prove you’re a citizen. Your bank account is zero. If you think that’s an absurd proposition, just look at where it’s already happening. China has more cameras than people and they know everything you do and everything you say there. The above is literally already happening there. Additionally, we don’t have look much further than our northern neighbor, Canada. Under Dictator Trudeau, the truckers who opposed the “safe and effective” jab, had their bank accounts frozen and their families were left to starve or surrender. So, even religion aside, any citizen should be terrified of the loss of a tangible item that you can physically hold and secure versus a digital form that can be altered or taken away with the click of a keyboard.
But from a religious perspective, it’s also relevant, as it is a clear and distinct symbol of the end times.
In Revelation we hear of a notorious character, the Antichrist, whose identity is unknown except for the “mark of the beast,” that might provide some identification. Nonetheless, when the world is thrown into chaos and disorder, he requires allegiance by everyone to him. Revelation 13:15-18 (ESV) states:
And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
Did you catch that? Unless you swear allegiance to this beast (clarified as a man in the book), then you will be prevented from buying or selling at all. You can’t go to the grocery store. You can’t pay the gas bill. You can’t sell the dress you just made so you could get some food to feed your family.
Throughout recorded history we’ve never been in a position where this was even a theoretical reality. There was always gold, silver, and the cash of the day. Even if you disagreed with everyone in power, you could still use your hard-earned cash to feed your family and you could work, earn money, or sell your wares to make ends meet. Even if you’re the weirdest recluse that nobody likes, you still could participate in the free market because no one had exclusive control over the money supply. Well, that’s what the governments want, what they are ever-so-close to accomplishing, and that’s what Satan wants in the book of Revelation. It’s how he controls those to remain after the rapture. Those living at that time will be forced to allow themselves and their families to starve, or they will be forced to worship the puppet of Satan at that time, forever condemning themselves to eternal damnation.
Not a pretty picture is it?
This is not some theoretical fearmongering rant. This technology is here, and many nations are already flipping the switch on. I pray that our country resists, but I suspect it is only a matter of time.
Latest Rants, Philosophy/Spiritual
I had a thought tonight that popped into my head, so I had to write it down and share.
I love the Old Testament. I love it. There is so much foreshadowing for what God was going to do in the future. One of my favorite Old Testament stories is with the children of Israel as they’re wandering in the wilderness. It’s a common one that most people are familiar with.
They had been traveling for some time, became thirsty, and began to complain. But as God always did, He provided. He told Moses: Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So, Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. Exodus 17:6 (ESV)
Of course, this was a foreshadowing, a preview of something greater to come.
Yes, it helped them to physically survive in the desert. However, there was a much deeper meaning behind this example that God was demonstrating. We know from Paul and from the words of Jesus himself, that he, Jesus, was the living water that we really need. In 1 Corinthians 10:4 (ESV), Paul states that the children of Israel “drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” Indeed, when Christ left his disciples in Samaria and met the Samaritan woman at the well, he asked her for a drink. Surprised, she responded “how is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me a woman of Samaria?” Jesus responded, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” John 4:7-10 (ESV).
Just as the rock was stricken by Moses so that the children of Israel could be saved from certain death in a barren desert, Jesus was stricken for our sins that would have otherwise resulted in a certain death.
He is the Rock that provides the living water.
But God was not done with his foreshadowing just yet; it wasn’t yet complete. We see just a short time later, in Numbers Chapter 20, that the children of Israel were at it again. They were thirsty, again, and complained against Moses, asking why he even brought them up out of Egypt to die in the desert. The Lord, again, would provide. The Lord appeared to Moses and told him, “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water.”
Notice the difference here.
Moses was not to strike the rock again. Jesus doesn’t need to die again. His death and resurrection, his atonement, is perfect for all eternity. He doesn’t need to be crucified a second time to save us.
We only need to speak to Him, and we receive salvation. That’s it. It’s a gift that He gives freely to those who call out to Him.
It’s beautiful. It’s perfect. It’s the Gospel.
However, as we know, Moses let his anger get the best of him. Sick and tired of their complaining, he shouted at them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” And instead of speaking to the rock as God had commanded, he struck it, twice. God still allowed the people to receive their temporary water, but Moses had ruined God’s beautiful example of his salvation through Christ. Moses had disobeyed. However, God knows all, and God was still going to use this circumstance to perfect his example; however, it would be a less pleasant one: to show our ultimate need for a savior, by showing the harshness and exactness of the law.
Let me explain.
If there was ever anyone who deserved to enter the promised land, it was Moses. He had kept God’s word and had zealously defended any infraction committed by the Israelites against God. He put up with their constant complaining and lack of faith. He dealt with them for forty-freakin’ years. He gave up everything to obey the Lord. But you know what? It wasn’t enough. Because he had disobeyed God, he was no longer permitted to enter the promised land. One mistake and he was out. God would let him glimpse it from the mountain, but then he was to die there, despite all of his pleading that God would change His mind.
That’s a little harsh, isn’t it? Absolutely.
If Moses couldn’t reach his promised land after making just one mistake, how screwed are you and I? What chance do we have to make it back to our “promised land” with God?
Zero. Zilch. Nada.
And that’s the point. We need a savior. We absolutely need someone to save us from our sin that infiltrates to the very core of us. We are drowning in an ocean with a cinderblock tied to our feet. If someone doesn’t pull us out, we’re doomed. But God knew this. He knew we could never be perfect. He knew that sin demanded justice, that wickedness couldn’t go unpunished. This is the very reason He took that punishment upon himself and then offered us freedom if we only accept it.
It’s free. No strings attached. For real.
This is the very reason that Jesus told the Pharisees, those who kept the rules better than anyone else, that “the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.” Matt 21:31 (ESV). They thought they could do it on their own. Indeed, they followed the law with exactness, as much as any human possibly could, puffing themselves up in pride for their good works. And in so doing, they deceived themselves. At least the tax collectors and prostitutes realized they were in trouble.
So, where are you? Do you realize how broken you are? I’m not preaching just to you; I’m right there with you. So, reach out. Stop struggling. Confess your own insufficiency. You’ve traveled for forty years through the wilderness, wandering in circles, no closer to the promised land than when you started. Acknowledge you can’t be perfect and yet you desire perfection; ask the only one who can save you, to take over, and He will. He has promised to do so.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt 11:28-30 (ESV).
Latest Rants, Philosophy/Spiritual
We live in an age where there is endless noise around us, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We are constantly being hassled by our smart phones, addictively checking our social media posts, and leaving on the television just to continue the “background noise.” It is rare that we actually experience a moment of true silence and reflection (especially when you have kids). In fact we often don’t want this. We need to keep the noise going so we don’t feel the emptiness inside of us. If we stop and reflect, we’re only going to feel like something is missing, and we don’t like that. Not at all. I suspect those on their deathbeds experience only silence and reflection and this is when they often recognize that they have wasted so much of their lives on things that did not matter.
When I would recognize this hole, I would want to fill it.
Like many, I suppose, I would put on some background noise, distract myself by binge watching some television show online, and do anything I could to avoid the fact that there was a gaping hole inside of me. I believe many people turn to alcohol, drugs, excessive eating, pornography, unhealthy relationships, or any other activity that will give a “high” or distraction in order to temporarily ignore the hole. I am guilty of many of these as well. However, as we know, all of these actions inevitably end up with consequences we regret. Deep down we know something is missing, but we do not know how to find it or fill it and, well, it hurts.
It really hurts.
Others, I believe, take an opposite approach. They ignore the hole entirely, devote themselves to an attitude of strict obedience to a religion or ideology (including atheism or self-worship), and do everything they can to convince themselves that the hole is not there. While hiding their own insecurities, they look down on and even mock others who are not following their chosen prescription for life. They convince themselves that they have the truth, and that anyone who does not agree with them is a fool. This is not any more helpful, and often is even worse than the earlier approach. However, they can fool themselves for only so long.
There are endless commercials, commentaries, organizations, and people out there willing to entice you to try their “solution” to the hole. After a while you realize that it is all garbage. That purchase will rust, decay, and break. The twelve-step program probably will not change your life.
In fact, none of it works. The hole is still there.
Studying the Bible, it is easy to see that history is filled with people in the exact same situation. They have insecurities, they have weaknesses, and they are broken. They have a gaping hole in their lives and nothing they do permanently fills it. However, they, like us, are not alone. God addresses them, encourages them, encourages us, to come and let Him fill this hole. “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? … Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live.” Isaiah 55:2-3 (NIV).
In John 4, Christ spoke with a Samaritan woman, approaching the well near where he sat. This woman, the experts agree, was an outcast. She was coming to the well during the time of day when no one else would be there. She was coming in the heat of the day with the scorching desert sun overhead, when anyone with half a brain would be hiding out in the shade. She was purposefully trying to avoid people. She was a social pariah whose immorality was likely well known in the community. She was broken; she was the exposed version of all of us.
Christ spoke to her, which shocked her. Not only was she a social outcast, but she was a woman and a Samaritan, someone a Jewish male would not normally engage in conversation with. He asked her for a drink. She replied in shock that a Jew would even ask such a thing. He responded, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10 (NIV).
What did he mean by living water? He clarifies in verse 13, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Id. at v. 13.
Soul satisfaction. Eternal satisfaction.
That is what he is talking about; completeness – the fulfillment that ALL of us are longing for and cannot satisfy. A thirst that is finally quenched; a hole that is finally filled.
He confirms this point in the next few verses where she is exposed as a woman who has had five husbands and now was living with a man to whom she was not married, a big societal and religious no-no. Like all of us, she had a need. She needed to be needed. She needed to be loved. She had a hole in her heart and, like all of us, she kept trying to fill it; in this case, with husband after husband, relationship after relationship, never being satisfied, always thirsting. For the first time in her life, from coming to Christ, she would be filled.
She immediately then ran to tell all of her friends about him.
So, what am I getting at here? What is the purpose of all of this? Simple. You cannot fill the hole. There is literally nothing you can purchase, no group you can join, no action you can take that will ever, ever fill that hole. Perhaps you dove headfirst into a sinful life, trying to satisfy the undefinable longing. Perhaps you’ve spent a good portion of your life trying to drown out the call of the hole, trying to quench the unquenchable thirst … but you recognize it is still there. Or, perhaps you have spent your entire life walking in exactness and obedience to everything you’ve ever been taught, following an empty religion on a giant hamster wheel. You have kept all the rules. You feel if anyone should feel complete, it should be you; you deserve it; yet you still feel empty.
The point of this article is to tell you that is that there is one, and only one, who can fill it for you and is willing to do so if you just ask Him. Regardless of your spiritual state, your emotional baggage, your complicated history, he will fill that hole or quench that thirst like nothing else can satisfy. Only coming to God through Christ will make you complete. And do not think for a second you have to “get your act together” before you can come to Him. That is a terrible mentality. He wants you as you are. He wants me as I am: broken and very aware of my brokenness. Christ did not hang out and eat with the pharisees; he hung out and ate with those who knew they were wicked. He did not tell the Samaritan woman that she had to clean up her life before he would give her the living water; he told her that all she needed to do was ask.
Just ask.
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