Why Drink?
I often take my dogs to the park where they are able to run free and play with others of their species. It can get pretty rowdy at times. There are always plenty to choose from. Unlike most dogs, mine would rather chase squirrels then a ball. Occasionally, they will spot one and the grueling chase is on. This of course, can lead to some pretty thirsty pups.
However, the problem is
that one of mine, Dixie, refuses to drink water from the doggy fountain that
all the dogs share. She will run in the
sizzling heat of summer with a grotesque mound of foam around her mouth
displaying what looks to be a rabid dog.
I can call her, nudge her, push her to the fountain, but she literally
will fight me...pulling away. Doesn’t she
understand that she can get some relief from the heat, if she would just succumb
to the water fountain? I’ve never seen
anything like it. I don’t know if she
thinks she is such a princess that she need not to share,
or is she a germ-a-phobic
like me.
Does the water taste bad?
Is she afraid of water?
I don’t know, but I often have to force feed
her bottled water to keep her hydrated. I keep thinking of the old saying ‘you can lead a horse to water, but ya
can’t make them drink’.
How often is
this true in our spiritual life? We are
being wooed, ushered in, invited, and sometimes dragged to the throne of Christ
by loved ones, perhaps our children, or even our spouses...yet some refuse to truly ingest the healing waters of the living fountain.
We war within ourselves and others, avoiding
the cleansing hope of freedom with drinking at the everlasting fount (Jesus
Christ). You can be baptized a hundred
times, say prayer over every meal you consume, give away all your wealth to the
poor, sit in a church pew every time the doors are open, but it will not bring you to the emptying of your soul.
It will not cleanse the daily garbage that
forms in our minds, and hearts in a society of immorality. Before you know it without the often cleansing
of God’s word, and renewing of your mind, you are rabid with thoughts of hate, dishonor,
self-pity, greed, prejudice, insecurity, complacency, and pride (which can also
be-the thinking too much of ‘what’s wrong with me?’ syndrome or false humility) never
growing spiritually or using what time is given to live out God’s purpose due to living solely on emotions.
You can get so stuck in a
negative rut, that not only do folks see a rabid behavior, but the very words
that spew out of someone’s mouth of this spiritual mentality is extremely venomous. It's toxic talk that creates dissension, or constant complaining, never finding anything good in any situation. It gets old hearing it chronically. It causes one to back away.
Just like
the folks who were scared to approach my precious, harmless Dixie, her
appearance of foam around her mouth brought negative feelings and fear on the
very ones she wanted to be petted and loved by.
When folk start running the opposite direction of you, it can most
certainly cause additional insecurity.
When this happens, you might want to check your speech dialogue button
and flip the channel from the constant negative, critical, ill words to
something a little lighter on the brighter side. You might find yourself so surrounded by
folks you can’t get a word in edge-wise, it’s a good feeling to be loved like
that.
The word “rabid” in Hebrew:
lahahh law-hah' -means to burn, (figuratively, insane); also (from the exhaustion of
frenzy) to languish:--faint, mad.
Staying in a constant state of
frenzy is exhausting!
To stay in a
mindset of anxiety is debilitating. It robs
you of your joy, peace, strength, and most certainly takes away from working
out God’s plan for your life. You can’t
move in the path God wants you to go, if you refuse to trust him.
Nothing in this world can ever compare to the filling of His living
waters. There is nothing that can quench
a soul thirst, not money, not relationships, not titles, friends, material
things, children, spouses, power, not even ministry.
The only one who can fill a thirsty soul,
is Jesus Christ (the living water). The water that flows continually. Grab a big Gulp cup and drink it up, there's no limit on refills!
Revelation 7:17
I’m not saying there won’t be
times when we aren’t afraid, oh my goodness there were many incidences in the
Bible when mighty men and women of God were used that walked through many
circumstances in doubt and fear, but they didn’t stay there. Gideon for example, had asked God for a sign
three times about the mission God was sending him on because he was so repressed with fear.
Judges 6:11-18
We can still choose to drink from the living fountain while
dealing with a world of flooding destruction.
We don’t have to allow the throngs of mass massacres, FaceBookers
posting political hatred, and YouTube, Twitter, and media vengeance seekers to
turn our hearts cold and live rabidly.
We can still have peace in the midst of the storms in this life. The only way to do that is to keep our eyes
on Jesus. There is nothing in this world
that will bring peace, not the perfect president, mayor, government, nor
police. We have to learn to walk in
peace, be in peace, speak peacefully, and quiet our souls with daily doses of
living waters. That is food for the soul.
John 14:27
Brenda A. Graff
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