Stay Thirsty, My Friends

March 2024

   Perhaps you have heard the catchphrase before.  It became famous for awhile through a Dos Equis beer commercial, where the “most interesting man in the world” always ended the commercial by telling us to “stay thirsty, my friends.”

   In the commercial, he is encouraging us to maintain our appetite for beer, and keep drinking it. But humor me here, even if you’re not a beer drinker; I think there is a spiritual application to this phrase. And I would like to encourage you, my newspaper-reading friends, to “stay thirsty.”

   Thirst is a physiological mechanism that God created and placed in our bodies to let us know that we need something. When you feel thirsty, your brain tells you that you need to drink to quench that thirst. (It doesn’t need to be beer! Lots of healthy options.)

   In our spiritual lives, the Holy Spirit sends us a signal when we are spiritually thirsty. Jesus offers us the living water to quench that thirst. If we listen to that signal that the Spirit is sending us, we will ask Jesus to give us the drink that He has promised us. “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.’”  (John 4:10, ESV).

   If we neglect our body’s signals when we are thirsty, which we can do, we will progress from being thirsty to being dehydrated very quickly. At this point there is a serious problem. In much the same way, when we feel spiritually thirsty, we should immediately go to the well and take a drink. Problem solved before it even begins! But sometimes we push that still, small Voice down and decide to do things our own way. We press on and press through in our own strength and we become spiritually dehydrated. At this point we have created a bigger problem. Instead of quenching our thirst with the Living Water, the Holy Spirit offered to us by Jesus; we have chosen to quench the Spirit by not listening to His Voice.

   These are our options… Quench our thirst with what Jesus offers, or quench the Spirit with our own man-made solutions in life.

   There is a certain yearning involved in being thirsty. A desire for the water we know will quench our parched throats. This yearning and desire should be evident in the life of a believer also. Our strength does not come from ourselves;  we know that it comes from Jesus. He offers it to us, just like He offered it to the woman at the well. Will we ask Him for that cup of water? Will we ask Him for the power of the Holy Spirit?

   Years ago, I had become spiritually dehydrated by continually yielding to my own self-pity. It had created a great depression and drought in my life. I was beyond spiritually parched. It was hard to imagine that there could be a solution. But in a single day, God opened the floodgates of His Living Water and brought life to my dry lands. He showed me the root of my problem. I yielded to that Voice on that day. I was beyond thirsty, and His water was beyond satisfying. He did not only reveal and remove the root of self-pity in my life, but He filled me with His Living Water; which resulted in an overflowing joy that is still present in my life today. Most people who know me would use “joyful” as a word to describe me. This was my gift from the Lord. I was thirsty; He offered me a drink. I received it; and it changed my life forever!

   I have stayed thirsty all these years for what the Holy Spirit has to offer. Although I do not struggle with depression and self-pity anymore, we all have struggles. Sometimes they raise their head on a daily basis, sometimes less often. But whenever I start to feel that nudge from the Holy Spirit that it might be time to take a drink, I listen. I receive the thirst-quenching water that Jesus offers, and I try not to quench the Holy Spirit.

   So today, friends, I want to encourage you to “stay thirsty.” Be aware that you have ongoing spiritual needs. Be aware that Jesus offers us the Holy Spirit, not just for salvation, but as a solution for all of life’s problems that we might face.

   He still speaks today, encouraging us to ask Him for the Living Water; and ready to offer its miraculous, thirst-quenching powers to our parched soul.

   I think, arguably, Jesus is the most interesting Man in the world…and in the heavens! His message for us today is much the same as it was for the woman at the well. Thirst is a recurring event in our life. Water is a recurring solution for our physical bodies. Spiritual thirst is also a recurring event in our life. The life-giving water of Jesus (the Holy Spirit) is our abundant and always-available response.

   So today, friends, I urge you to stay thirsty. When the Spirit nudges you with that first twinge of thirst, go to the well, and ask Jesus for that water. Do not quench the Spirit, but rather quench your spiritual thirst with what Jesus has to offer.

   “Do not quench the Spirit…Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19, 23-24, ESV).

Chris McMahan
Email:
Happy1970@icloud.com