We both drank from the same glass, our mouths leaving marks on opposite sides, a tall drink of water for the parched soul. This is what it is to come to the only Water that will quench our thirst: a shared glass, shared germs, shared experience, but only one Way, one Truth, one Life. Drinking from the same glass.
I tell a friend this morning that I feel straddled between two camps, and I don’t know how long I can sustain this position. I fear being viewed as tepid water. John writes of lukewarm water being spewed from the mouth of God (Rev. 3:16), but sometimes we think we’re God, spitting out those who don’t agree, can’t agree, or just cannot see.
We’ll show them.
And what?
What are we showing them?
For those who take and adopt the phrase “gospel-centered,” do we show those who don’t hold to our same brand of theology that they are lukewarm? And for those who take and own the phrase “story-teller,” do we spew out those whose stories may look different than ours, take longer than ours, or shorter?
Water sputtering everywhere and not a drop to drink.
We’re drinking from a mirage if we only quench our thirst on what we hope to see and not what is real and lasting and may not be seen for a long, long, long time. We’re drinking from a stagnant pond if we keep returning to the same story over and over and over again hoping to find resolution (Prov. 26:11). We’re drinking from a rusty tap if we don’t purify our words with fire (James 4:8), season them with salt (Col. 4:6), and sweeten them with honey (Ps. 119:103). We’re drinking from contaminated water if we believe that we’re the water others long for.
We’re drinking from water that will never satisfy if we’re not drinking from the Living Water (John 4:7-30).
Some of us come to the well at high noon, fearful to gather our drink where others in our camp might see us. Some of us come in the morning, with the masses, because to stand apart, to stand alone is too much for our approval starved hearts.
But Jesus? Jesus takes our chin in his hand, lifts up our eyes to where our help can only come, and shows us a better way, a more beautiful way. He calls our sin what it is so there is no opportunity to remain lukewarm or ignorant, but he also says the watering hole in which we find ourselves is no thirst-quencher at all.
He is Water and we drink from his glass alone.