While living in Pakistan I once traveled to a remote village known as Nagar just after a horrific tragedy. The village water supply had become contaminated and in a brief 72 hour period 1/3 of the local villages population of 350 people had died sudden and painful deaths due to cholera. When my friend and I arrived to the village the grief was still palpable. Everyone had lost someone close to them and many of those who died were the most vulnerable.... children and the aged. We were there because we wanted to help find the cause of the cholera outbreak and see if we could help provide the proper sanitation and water supply that would prevent future outbreaks of water borne disease and death. We found out that the cause of the outbreak of cholera was the death of an animal whose carcass had fallen into a well high up on the hills above the village. Out of sight to the villagers, a seeping poison of death was slowly creeping down through the water the villagers used to survive.
Living in America, we don't often think of having our water supply poisoned by bacteria or viruses. Our water is generally safe. We don't think that perhaps today what we drink will kill us and our neighbors. We have an expectation that we can drink from our water taps and not die of cholera. Water is essential to life. It must be clean to survive. Our quality and length of life depends on having a clean water supply. Poison our supply.... our 'well' so to speak.... and many hearts will be broken.
The need for protection from poison applies to our hearts and souls as well as our bodies. What we receive into our hearts and minds can poison and contaminate our lives just as seriously as any bacteria or virus. Our heart is vulnerable to lies, deception and evil. The book of Proverbs warns us to"Above all else, guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life." Your heart is a well.... it's a source of life. When our hearts are pure our lives are full of healing, blessing and sustenance. When our hearts are contaminated by the poison of deception, our lives are full of disease, death, cursing and famine.
When we are connected to the source of eternal life through a relationship with Jesus Christ we are connected to a pure river of life. The scriptures tell us that one of the gifts poured out upon as we believe in God's love for us is an immersion into the life of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promises us in the gospel of John a spiritual river that will "take away thirst altogether, It becomes a perpetual spring within".
All of us are thirsty. All of us are looking desperately to satisfy the thirst within..... the thirst for meaning, direction, purpose and love. The danger in a broken and lost world is to drink from contaminated wells and and die twice. The first death is slow and agonizing.... a life lived based upon lies is never satisfying and always tragic. The second death is the forever separation from the well spring that God freely wants everyone to experience. When we reject the water of life found in faith in Jesus Christ we suffer the kind of death that never ends..... a separation and aloneness that none should endure. What our souls thirst for sets the course of our lives far beyond our imagination could ever take us.
Today, Jesus pleads with us from the gospel of John chapter 7 and verses 37,39, "If you are thirsty, come to me! If you believe in me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within." The condition of our hearts and minds is a reflection of what we are putting into our souls.... if our 'well' is poisoned, our life is in danger of a premature and painful death. When we feed upon the truth of God's great love for us, we drink from a deep and pure water source that will refresh, heal and deliver. It's time we test the water and examine our hearts. Life is too precious to drink from a contaminated well. Choose the water of life freely offered to us through faith in Jesus Christ.
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