Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  John 4:13,14.

Notice Jesus’ words: “the water I give them”. He never expected us to be producers of life, but partakers. Christ is the life-giver, not the life-demander! There is an eternity of difference between producing and partaking. You or I were never called to produce the life of Christ, but to partake of His life, His Spirit, and so bear His life (Gal.5:22,23). Mary was never told by the angel Gabriel to produce Christ, but a great and precious promise was given to her; “When the Spirit comes you will bear Christ”. What does partaking look like? Listen to Mary’s response, for this is how we partake of the life of God. By the power of His Spirit, we find our souls responding, “Let it be done unto me, according to your Word.” In Christ we have been given a great Saviour, a great life. Let it be. This is the good news of the Gospel; if you want a Saviour, you have one. If you want to be your own, there is religion or atheism, but be warned, it is the most miserable life in the world, being your own Saviour!

I have come to see that one of the main reasons I have found myself partaking of what the world has to offer, is that I get so worn out trying to carry a weight that Christ never laid on me but His Church so often does; the weight of trying to produce a good life. (Matthew 11:28-30). Although it appears obvious to us as believers, that alcohol cannot satisfy a thirst for life, what is less obvious to us is that earthly religioncannot satisfy this thirst either and the evidence of that is the sheer number of discontented, dissatisfied people not just found in the bars of our nations, but in the churches. Our churches are full of such thirsty people.

We were created for nothing less that communion with our creator, and nothing less will satisfy us. We were created to be what the apostle Peter described as, ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (2Peter 1:4). Notice Peter too never described us as producersof the divine nature. We weren’t created to be employees, but sons. God is not asking you to produce a Christian life, but rather calls and empowers you, through the proclamation of the Gospel (Rom.10:17), to partake of the life offered to you; Christ.

You may ask, “How do I know how far I have fallen, from partaking to producing?” I can only speak for myself. I have found that it is the thirst I carry for the things of this world, that each day is the measure of how far my life has slipped, from partaking of His life, to trying to produce His life. To earthly eyes, such a fall looks obvious in the life of any poor individual who has perhaps drank or gambled their way into poverty. Church folk would often describe such a life as ‘worldly’ and say, “we don’t want such worldly behaviour in the church.” But to heavens eyes, there is nothing more worldly than religion because there is nothing more fallen than the belief that I can establish my own righteousness, I can produce the life of God by the works of my flesh (Gen.3:5, Matt.23:27). It is ironic, that many of us in the church are so quick to label people who have left our churches as back-sliders, when from heaven’s perspective, the greatest backslide has always been from partaking to producing and right from the earliest days of the church, you never had to leave the church to become that sort of backslider, just ask the Galatians! (Gal.3:3, 5:4). Think on Paul’s gentle tone with the Corinthians, as he admonished them for their drinking and cavorting. Now compare that with the tone he took with the Galatians, for their endeavours to become righteous by the work of their hands (Gal.1:6-9). Why was he so upset? Let me use a modern analogy. It’s one thing for people to choose what they are drinking, but it’s quite another to have your drink spiked! Paul’s accusation to the Galatians, was that they had added to the gospel. They had added producing to partaking and that little leaven had dropped their gaze from Christ, onto themselves.

That little leaven changed the nature of the gospel, from a supernatural message to a mere natural one because there is no power in any message that points you to you. But what alarmed Paul so much, was that he saw the deceptive nature of it, for a zeal for righteousness always looks so good (Rom.10:1-3). The most deceptive immaturity in the body of Christ remains a zeal for righteousness, but without enough knowledge of God to know that He is not asking you to produce your own, but to partake of His. (Hebrews 5:11-14). The writer to the Hebrews called any believer who hasn’t yet grasped that God isn’t asking you to produce righteousness, but to partake of His, a ‘babe’ and that wasn’t a compliment!

Actually, to call someone exhorting believers today to establish (produce) their own righteousness a ‘babe’ may be quite apt, as a modern understanding of that word refers to someone who looks really attractive. Some of the most attractive ministries in the body of Christ to the carnal man, are those who elevate the role of the flesh, for it always seems reasonable to the earthly minded man that he would play some starring role in his own salvation (Luke 18:11). But if you watch such ministries for long enough you will notice something; the same people keep having to go back again and again for ministry. Why? Because “everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.”

There is no power in any message that points you to you. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Rom.10:4) Christ is the end of producing and the beginning of partaking. Don’t let anyone spike your gospel. You cannot produce better water, a better life, than Christ offers. Ministry that continually exhorts believers to produce rather than partake, will inevitably leave them thirsty enough to go back into the world looking for life, for everyone who drinks this water, will be thirsty again.