Are You Thirsty?

“They don’t belong here,” I thought to myself as I grabbed my broom and stormed towards my back door in frustration. 

Bees and wasps swarmed my hummingbird feeder and, in the process, scared off the hummingbirds. It was not a wasp feeder. It was meant to be a haven for hummingbirds to find nourishment on a hot day. However, with the recent drought unwelcomed guests started frequenting my back porch seeking anything they could find to satisfy their thirst. As I waved my broom in the air trying to keep the bees and wasps from the sweet nectar, I was reminded of how we might sometimes be tempted to act the same way regarding our own source of Living Water.

Have you ever gone to church and thought, “why are they here?”

Ok, you might not want to admit it but be honest. If you haven’t done it before, you probably can still picture what type of person would make you uncomfortable.

Sometimes we get so cozy in our pews with friends who look, sound, or think like us that we forget that Jesus’ Living Water is meant for everyone. Church was never meant to just be a haven for current believers to gather and refuel for the week. Jesus’ church is also a hospital – a place for all to come to find rescue, rest, and restoration.

As the world becomes a more confusing place and hope seems harder to find, I pray we see people the way God does. Instead of viewing others as “unwelcomed guests” may we choose to see those different from us as God’s children who like us need to find healing in our brokenness. 

The world is hungry for hope, and I pray that all who are thirsty for truth would swarm our churches seeking the One and only thing that can satisfy their thirst.

Jesus answered, “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.”

John 4:13-14