"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare." --Isaiah 55:1-2"Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink." --from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
I went to the mall today. When I was young I went to the mall at least once a week, usually more. That's when I thought what it held could satisfy me.
Now, I am extremely overwhelmed by the choices set before me. I must've looked at 20 pairs of red high heels today. Scores of dresses. Heaps of necklaces. I didn't even know I wanted those things until today. But today, I found myself wanting them. Imagining how it would feel to wear them. How people might look at me differently if I had them.
Then the Holy Spirit caught me. "Do not run after these things. You know they will not satisfy nor will they make you happy. Remember the conflict you feel when you buy foolishly, remember the debt and how it imprisons you. Remember the lies you have to tell yourself to rationalize the spending. Yes, and remember, these things will not make you a better person."
My experience today made me think of a line from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink." We are in a boat surrounded by an ocean of temptations. All the worldly things look so good and we are so thirsty. We think surely possessions will make us happy, so we drink from them. It doesn't work. We get thirstier. Then we drink from relationships and manipulations of relationships. We grow thirstier still. And if we continue to dip into this ocean for satisfaction, we will die.
Satisfaction from anything but Jesus is a fleeting illusion. He is the only one who offers living water that we may thirst no more. Oh, give me Jesus. You can keep the shoes!
Dear Jesus, yours is the sweetest name I know. Forgive me when I think anyone or anything could give me what only You can -- contentment, satisfaction, abundant life. I believe. Help my unbelief. Amen.
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