Water of Life

The Soul Satisfying Sufficiency of Christ

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.” Psalm 42:1 Photo by Jonnelle Yankovich on Unsplash

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As I stood in our hallway, looking at the many boxes packed with our things for donation, I realized I could not recall even half of what those boxes contained.

Why had it all seemed so very important such a short time before?

Jesus tells us, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”¹

Everything in those boxes was subject to rust and mold and decay.

Worthless.

All of it.

And yet, these things had taken space in my heart that was only meant to be held by Jesus.

Why had it been so difficult to let these things go? What was I afraid of? Was I worried we wouldn’t have enough? Was I afraid to let go of parts of myself? Did I believe these things made me who I was?

In a word: Yes.

I was using these things—these things which were subject to rust and mold and decay—as security and identification.

Jesus tells us, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other…”²

He also tells us to “Be careful to guard yourselves from every kind of greed. Life is not about having a lot of material possessions.”³

These things had become idols of worship in my life.

When I confessed these revelations to God, I felt a great shift in my heart. I no longer felt chained to these things. I was released from their grip and began to see the things in my home with new eyes. I soon filled 50 more boxes of things to donate.⁴

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In the heat of the day, a Samaritan woman came to collect water from the well and met a man who changed her life forever.

Jesus said to her, “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.”⁵

All my life, I had searched for happiness. I had an emptiness that I sought to fill.

Maybe a husband. Maybe a bigger house. Maybe a closet full of designer clothes and shoes and handbags. Maybe hundreds of books. Maybe children.

But no.

If we try to find happiness and satisfaction in earthly goods and materials—even people—we will never, ever be content. We will always have a hunger, a thirst, a desire for more. We will live with the fear of not having enough or the greed of always wanting more.

But if we drink from the well of Jesus, we will never thirst for more; for our thirst will be quenched by the soul-satisfying living water of Christ.⁶

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1. Matthew 6:19

2. Matthew 6:24

3. Luke 12:15

4. I wrote more about minimalism in this post.

5. John 4:13-14

6. Here is a beautiful version of the hymn “As the deer” by Shane & Shane inspired by Psalm 42