check your thirst!

Today I was reading John chapters 7 & 8.
John 7:37-39 says: Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
My Bible references Isaiah 58:11 as the verse being pointed to by the phrase "as the Scripture has said" That verse says "The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

So, if I believe Jesus is who he says he is my life, my heart will be a spring out of which the Holy Spirit will flow - keeping life around me healthy and fruitful (like a well watered garden).

I love the picture here of the Spirit being the water to a garden of life, love, and many kinds of fruit. BUT - I need to check my thirst. How many other things do I long for in my life that compete with a thirst for Christ? Fleeting things, wishful things, self-centered things, some may even be worthwhile things - but none that can compare with HIM who will guide me always! I need to check my thirst!

Jesus, I pray that you would daily renew in me a thirst for you - for your Spirit - your living water. When I feel like I'm missing out on something or lacking something in my life would you remind me - in those moments - that YOU are the only thing worth thirsting for – the only one who truly satisfies!