UNCOMMEN: Deeper & DarkerSample

Day 3: Your True Need

Jeremiah 2:11-13 & Romans 1:18-25 & John 4:1-18

Sin is more sinister than disobedience.

God calls the angels to shield their eyes from the wickedness they are about to witness. His people have committed two evils: “They have forsaken [him], the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Imagine walking into an airport bathroom and finding a man drinking from the urinal. Do you know what that would be? Shocking and appalling!

“But I’m thirsty,” is not an adequate answer. Yes, it’s wet; but there is better water to drink. If you drink that water, you’ll get sick!

Blaise Pascal said, “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”

We all have within us desires for love, significance, security, acceptance—the list goes on. And the world, our flesh, and the devil offer a plethora of cisterns to satisfy those thirsts.

And not all cisterns are vices. A beautiful wife, picturesque home, or lucrative career are good and common things that may satisfy for a moment; but eventually, the well runs dry, and our thirsts remain. They can’t ultimately satisfy because they were never created to. The capacity of our souls is so great, only something truly great can fill it.

It’s not a sin to be thirsty, but it matters where we drink.

C. S. Lewis says, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Jesus says he is the fountain of living water, and whoever drinks from him will never thirst again. Our thirsty souls find superior and everlasting satisfaction in him. The goal is to see him as glorious and soul-satisfying as he truly is.

About the Author:

Brandon Fisher is a pastor at Keystone Church in Paradise, PA. After eight years in youth ministry, Brandon became Keystone’s Lead Pastor to oversee overall church vision, mission alignment, and staff/ministry leadership. Some of Brandon’s spiritual heroes and influences include John Piper, Tim Keller, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and C. S. Lewis.