Over the past month, my perspective on life has changed drastically. In several, random places I have seen a reoccurring theme. The things I have learned, along with seeing these things take shape in front of me, put me in awe of God.
The event that sparked this new theme in my life was a conversation I had with my uncle. My uncle is a pastor and someone I respect a great deal. If I have a question about life, the Bible, or something spiritual, he is the first person I ask. The conversation we had was sparked by a very hard day, followed by a phone call that ended in tears of relief and thankfulness.
At that time, I was dealing with several financial decisions while also worrying about my health. I told him something that I had been thinking for several years, “My two biggest problems in my life are my weight and my lack of money. Sometimes I feel like if I was an average sized woman and I didn’t have to worry about money, my life would be perfect.”
He looked at me and shared several things that changed my way of thinking. He said, “I have a son with a genetic disorder that no amount of money could ever cure. I could be the richest man in the world, but there is no one I could pay to make Dawson better. He will always have Trisomy 18 no matter what I or anyone else does.”
I had honestly never thought of that before then. He went on, “I have a friend who makes more money than any person I have ever met. He has clothes that cost more than any one thing I own, but even with his wealth, he cannot change the fact that his son has special needs. We will never be satisfied. If every part of our life is seemingly perfect, then we have nothing to rely on God for. And then what’s the point? He is the only one who can satisfy us.”
The conversation we continued to have has changed my perspective on life. Even if I was in the next Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show or Bill Gates was paying my college tuition, I need God more than my next breath. I need God more than I need a check for $6,000 dollars. I need God more than I need to weigh 140 pounds and be in size four jeans. I need Him.
I had been thinking about the conversation for a few weeks when I was reminded again of where we find true satisfaction. At church on Sunday, we read a portion of John. The story most people know as “the woman at the well.”
The verses that stuck out to me were chapter four verses 13 and 14. Jesus says to the woman, “Anyone who drinks this water (water from the well) will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give them will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
What is your first thought when you read this? We need God. Of course, we do. But listening to the pastor helped me take it so much deeper than that. God gave us the gift of salvation and nothing we do could ever take the place of that.
We could try to live every day without saying a curse word, without cheating, without committing adultery, but it’s not enough. Even if we live a seemingly perfect life, we will still thirst again. Without God’s perfect gift of salvation, we are nothing. With God’s perfect gift of Salvation, we have eternal life. He is the only one who can satisfy us.
Today, while reading my assigned book for Bible Class I was reminded yet again of how much we need God. I’m reading the book "Christian Worldview: A Student’s Guide” by Philip Graham Ryken and in the first chapter, Ryken quotes David Foster Wallace, “The compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. . . Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. Worship power and you will end up feeling weak and afraid.”
God, His love and salvation, is the only thing we need. Nothing can satisfy us but Him. He is living water, the only water that can quench us.
