Drink

Jesus is not with us in a visible or tangible way. This means that you can no longer approach Him on foot as you could when He was on the earth.

How then should we understand His command to come and drink? When kind of thirst did Jesus have in mind?

If any one thirst, let him come to Me and drink. (John 7:37)

Standing before some scene of beauty, you might hear someone say that they are, “drinking it in”. Or, to change the metaphor slightly, we might invite someone to, “feast their eyes” on something worthy of attention.

What do we usually mean by these expressions? We mean that we have put ourselves in a position to behold some beauty, to affirm its worth or to give ourselves up to it or be moved by it. In that way we drink in the scene.

So it is with this invitation from Jesus. Jesus invites us to put ourselves in a position to behold Him clearly. But since He’s not here it’s something we do through His Word.

Jesus said,

The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63).

And so today, as we read and meditate on His word, we are meeting and beholding the resurrected, life-giving Jesus. And when He calls us to come and drink, it is His words to which we come. Not in the words or traditions of men. Not in the commentaries, the books and the many otherwise helpful words of godly men and women, but in the pages of scripture.

The words of Jesus Christ alone carry the living water and that water is His Spirit, the Holy Spirit: Given by God and welling up within those who come to Jesus.

When our gaze is fixed on His Word, we say, “Yes,” to all that He says. We do not dispute its beauty. We affirm its worth, and we give ourselves to it unreservedly. We feast our eyes on it, drink it in and soak it up. And it changes us. It affects us. And we rest in the certainty that there is truth in this world that will not leave us empty.

What Jesus means by drinking is the same thing He means by believing or trusting. After He says, “Come to me and drink,” in verse 37, He immediately says, “He who believes in me.” He could have also said, “He who drinks from me.” We see these two ideas merge in John 6:35, where Jesus says, “He who believes in me shall never thirst.”

Drinking the Word of Jesus is trusting it, banking on it and being transformed by it. The essence of believing in Jesus is finding in Him the satisfaction for the deepest longings of a thirsty soul. Drinking is believing. Believing and delighting in Jesus as Lord, and as the satisfaction of our souls.

So drink. Drink daily. Drink deep. Drink up on His Word and the life-giving delight of His Spirit.