Come!

“Come, everyone who thirsts,
    come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
    and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
    hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
    my steadfast, sure love for David…

“Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
    and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:1-3,6-7

“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’  The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?..’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” John 4:10-11,13-14

The invitation is clear, Come! Issued to all who thirst, beckoning to abundant living waters, the call is Come! Get up, exert effort, by an act of will procure and take in heaven’s living dew, the supernatural nourishment of God.

And yet, we prefer to sweat and toil. We cannot resist expending ourselves to earn ourselves, to make drink our right and refreshment our reward. We spend and are spent on many worldly endeavors that give no satisfaction and leave us hungering for more. We imbibe in junk food, entertainment and information and petty grievances that sap us of soul vitality. We close our ears to the Savior’s call because pride has calloused our hearts, and we languish.

What rebellion to a hard obedience has set in that we’ve tucked away to fester? Where has pride poisoned our attitude toward those unlike us, or those we don’t like? On what do we waste time and affection? When will we give attention and commit time to seek the Lord, allow Him to identify our wicked ways, even those we’ve grown to tolerate or excuse, and then name and forsake them one by one?

What in our outlook, schedule, or inner satisfaction could be transformed if we genuinely turned from insignificant living and returned to the Lord? How might personality and gifts flourish anew surrendered to our Maker? How could ministry and relationships grow in fresh soil of love, truth, and grace? What if, instead of stopping our ears, we answered the Lord and conversed with Him regularly through His word and focused prayer?

Lord, keep me delighting in You and Your abundance with mind, body, and soul so I will freely offer Your ‘Come!’ to the needy around me.