most people in the world have some way to get to it. it may be difficult, but it brings life, sustaining them their families & communities. water is one of the few things in life that is truly vital. i am so glad that there are Christians who are taking the time, devoting their lives, to helping people find sources of pure water for their communities. so many people have suffered from, and continue to suffer from, the disease, heartbreak & death that results from something so easily fixed. something as simple as water shouldn’t be a problem. something as basic as clean, disease free water is one thing i will dare to say is a universal right. this is not something that is an entitlement issue, or falls under the realm of laziness, or handouts or something that people just don’t do for themselves. water, good, pure water, is something everyone on earth should have.

john brought people to the water to help purify their lives in order to meet up with God’s kingdom and with the life of repentance that goes along with it. no one who has spent their life drinking from a dirty river, and now has access to a clean source, will ever choose to bypass the clean to go back to the old. this isn’t something that’s comfortable and familiar. it isn’t something they were better off with…who wants parasites or dysentery?

but we will return back to that old life that we had before our encounter with Jesus. why? why on earth would a polluted, stagnant pond be a place to choose to drink water? it’s ridiculous to even think about. but we do it every day. we deny the pure for the putrid. we pass on the holy to opt for the hell-bound. why? someone tell me, because i really don’t understand. paul talks about the battle of the flesh, about the struggle against our sinful nature. about how what we desire in our lives isn’t what we do, and the bad that was a part of us before is for some reason what we keep returning to…but i still don’t get it. why are we so weak?

i’m going to venture to say it’s because we haven’t wholly given our lives over to God. it’s one thing to still have a basic struggle, but to wade back into that muck on purpose is what gets me. we find the funk familiar. we look in and say, i’ve been there before, and i got out. it’s really not so bad.

the Holy Spirit is even more accessible to us as clean water is in most of america. we just need to seek God, we must desire His presence in our lives, and the former life in corruption is no longer an issue. a clean well, deep, cold and pure, has already been dug for us, and the water is ready to drink. we can be refreshed at anytime, day or night…but we still don’t live like we have access. it’s a gift, to have the guidance of God Himself active in our lives.

when we are baptized, we are engulfed in water. we are inundated, buried, completely surrounded, wrapped in, encompassed by water. the Spirit’s presence is just like that. in Him we live and move and have our being. but it seems like once the shine wears off (somehow) we choose to step away from that well of living water. we withdraw our buckets, seeking out water wherever it may be…

why?

God forgive me. open my eyes to your purity, and my own filth. help me decontaminate my life completely. seeking purity of mind, heart, attitude and soul. God forgive me. i appeal to You through the blood of Jesus who makes all things pure in me. help me to walk in You today. amen.