Do not drink the water!
On day people of Salem, Oregon and surrounding areas woke to their cell phone making a high-pitched sound of warning. The message had read, “Do not drink water from your home faucet.” Over 180,000 people could not drink water, rinse food, or give it to their pets. Harmful toxins were in the water as a result of algae blooms in the reservoir where the city’s drinking water supply had come from. Unfortunately, these toxins cannot be boiled or filtered out.
What to do? People hurried to stores to buy bottled water and found some stores were charging $40 a case and one store even had a price of over $400. But people in other cites started opening their water facets to anyone and the National Guard brought out trailers of water. The water problem had been ongoing for a month and continued for a while after. I prayed that they would get relief – it had affected my own family.
The moment I had heard this, I thought of the woman at the well. After she had given Jesus a cup of water Jesus said,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14 NIV)
Jesus also said,
“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...”
(John 7:38-39 NIV)
That same Spirit the Apostles received has now been given to me and to all who believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
The water in Salem could have made you sick and could possibly cause death. The water Christ gives does not take life but gives life eternal. Jesus told the Apostle John,
“.... It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all of this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” (Rev. 21:6-7 NIV)
It always gets to me when I read, “I will be his God and he (Ron) will be my son.” I stand amazed that the Creator of all things loves me! I felt like the Apostle Paul when he said he was a “pile of rags.” But like Paul, the Lord forgave me and made me a son in 1965.
Do you remember when you received the water that never runs dry? Does it still amaze you that He would do this for you? Do you tell Him that? This was the greatest gift ever given to mankind. It’s easy to be too busy and not think of the cost paid for that gift. He inhabits the praises of His people! So, give Him praise.
Without the cross, there would be no living water, no hope for us. Tell others about this gift from God.
In Christ alone I live,
