Are You Thirsty Yet?

by Victoria Gaines
Published March 13, 2007

"Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure..." ~ 2 Peter 1:10

"For health to be present, of course, there must be life." ~ Donald Whitney

"And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." ~ 1 John 5:11-12

With all the seeker-sensitive, emergent, user-friendly churches on the rise, it's possible that many people have a false sense of assurance when it comes to knowing Christ. I hope not, but we live in deceptive times. The masses have boarded the social gospel train, taken up good causes, and because of that, believe themselves to be Christians---all the while their hearts are far from Him. This burdens me. Without a firm grounding in biblical truth, any of us can be deceived. It's not enough to say, "I believe in God," then set about making Him in our own image. We need to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Scripture reveals Him to us.

Yet today's church is being re-invented. It peddles a soft gospel. Pastors can purchase canned sermons that draw the spiritual curious while not offending anyone. Within their entertainment-saturated walls, pastors rally the flock to live "your best life now" with no mention of dying to self, or taking up our cross to follow Jesus. There's little mention of sin or the holiness of God. While folks ride the postmodern, deconstruction, reconstruction bandwagon, others are confused by syrupy sentimentality, mystical theologies, pulpit psychobabble, sensual worship experiences, and a false spirituality.

We need to turn our eyes to Jesus. We need to make sure we're His.

In Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health, Donald Whitney points out that "where eternal life through Christ does exist, there should be not only health but also growth." I'm thankful to find this book. We all could use a spiritual checkup. It's important that we not take our relationship with Christ for granted.

"Dear reader, you have a choice between a spiritual journey to discover your purpose, and the message of the gospel that declares God’s purposes. The one will make you think you are on the path to heaven when you may not be, the other will put you on the path to heaven by God’s sovereign power. I urge you to embrace the gospel on God’s terms." ~ Bob DeWaay, The Gospel: A Message or a Method?

And now, Whitney's first spiritual checkpoint: Do you thirst for God?

God didn't intend for us to be satisfied in our natural condition--we all thirst. But Whitney says the difference between people is the kind of thirsty longing in their soul.

1. The empty soul - the unconverted man or woman has never known Christ and tries to fill his/her voids with "money, sex, power, houses, lands, sports, hobbies, entertainment, transcendance, significance, or education." We run from one thing to the other, searching yet ever restless, because nothing can fill this heart-void but the Spirit of God. Sadly, the empty soul doesn't thirst for the things of God. "The eternal tragedy is that if the empty soul never properly thirsts on earth, he will thirst in hell as did the rich man who pleaded in vain for even the tip of a moist finger to be touched to his tongue" (Luke 16:24).

2. The dry soul -different from the empty soul, knows what he's missing because he's already experienced "rivers of living water" (John 7:38). How did his soul become dry? "The most common is by drinking too much from the desiccating fountains of the world and too little from "the river of God" (Psalm 65:9). Another reason, that we don't always understand, is dryness that comes from a sense of God having withdrawn His presence from us. Remember, the Lord never really leaves or forsakes us. To realize we no longer feel God's presence causes us to thirst and is a healthy sign. Just because the sun goes behind a cloud doesn't mean it's not there. Dryness of the soul is also caused by physical or mental fatigue. Realizing we need a fresh touch from God is a sign of progress.

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!" Psalm 34:8

3. The satisfed soul. The apostle Paul said, "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (Philippians 3:7-8, ESV).

Paul's soul was satisfied in Christ, yet he always thirsted for more. Nothing can replicate what we find in Christ--no person, possession, or experience. And so we return again and again, because He fills us like nothing else.

A.W. Tozer reveals: O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made thirsty still."

This kind of desire points to a growing soul. "The reason a person thirsts for God is because the Holy Spirit is at work within him," Whitney reminds us in chapter one. God initiates thirst so He can satisfy it. Jonathan Edwards wrote, "True and gracious longings after holiness are no idle ineffectual desires." God desires to meet our need.

Are you meditating and absorbing Scripture on a regular basis? "Without absorption of the water of God's Word, there's no quenching our spiritual thirst."

Are you praying through the Scriptures? Do you read ‘thirst-making’ writers?

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