On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.”  John 7:37-38

Part of the ceremony for the feasts of Tabernacles was for the Jews to bring water from the pool of Siloam and pour it in a silver basin near the altar where sacrifices were made.  On this last day of the festival, it was evident to Jesus that His people had poured out water, observed a ceremonial ritual that was loaded with meaning, yet were unchanged on the inside.  In this context, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty, come.  I will be living water to you.”

It is possible to engage in vigorous religious exercise and never experience Living Water, to exit as empty on the other side of our observance as when we started.  If anyone comes to observe, to perform out of habit and ritual, they rarely experience transformation.

Jesus reveals the secret for life-change.  Spiritual thirst.  Somehow, it grates against the religious when the irreligious come, are thirsty, and have a greater experience of Christ than those in the church have experienced.  “How did this happen?” the church privately wonders.  It’s all about spiritual thirst.

The depth of my experience of Jesus will be determined by the level of my spiritual thirst.  If I perceive I have no need, I will not be changed.  Christ comes where He is wanted.  He hears the cry of the needy and responds.  The self-satisfied, the self-impressed deny their need, live in unbelief, and have little experience with the God of their Fathers they pride themselves on knowing and worshipping.  They neither know nor worship.  Head knowledge does not a relationship make.

There is no pedigree required to experience the touches of Christ.  There is no ‘previous church experience’ necessary to qualify for transforming love.  The only qualification is need and desire.  Poor destitute sinners walk off with the prize – who is Christ Himself.

I am a barren land without your visitation.  Amen