Dry as a bone. Have you ever felt that way, spiritually empty and distant from God? This is exactly where I was years ago when, fortunately, someone invited me to a weekend retreat. I had declined similar invitations before, but this time it was my time. After two days of compelling testimonies, open discussions and prayer time with God, I came away nurtured, refreshed, and feeling close to Him again. What a welcome relief! Yet I found myself wondering, how did I arrive at “dry” in the first place?
Likely we can all remember times when we let our sin distance us from God in fear of guilt and judgment, rather than turning to Him in faith for forgiveness. The more we disengaged from Him who offers “living water,”1 the more parched we became. Yet I think we face a stealthier weapon of separation, one disturbingly well disguised— the subtle deception of letting Christlike activities replace Christ himself as our focal point. Serving others, for instance, is a wonderful call, but if we let service replace Jesus as our personal foundation— our reason for being and our life itself— we veer off target. We could say the same of mission, seeking the outcast, or Christian values—all of these are good pursuits as led by the Spirit, but none should replace our relational embrace of Jesus’ living presence. He is our life. 2
On the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus instructed His disciples, “Abide in me, and I in you.”3 Anything less is merely Jesus-adjacent. He is the vine, and apart from Him we are lifeless, fruitless branches.4 He himself is “the bread of life;”5 why would we hunger apart from Him? Jesus shines in our darkness,6 would we dim His light? Of course not. It is in Christ, and only in Christ, that we can effectively pursue the “good works, which God prepared beforehand”7 for us to do. And it is only in Christ that our efforts bear fruit.8
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”9 Jesus didn’t merely speak these words privately to His disciples, He cried them out publicly to all within earshot—this is how essential they are to who Jesus is and who He has made us to be. In Him there is no parched, there is no dry, only rivers of living water. So abide in Jesus—camp out in His Word, talk openly with Him as a friend, praise Him who alone is worthy of our praise, and trust Him completely in all things. Stay quenched, my friends.
Jesus, You are my sustenance, my life—let nothing come between us. Abide in me through Your Spirit, that my life would bear fruit for Your Kingdom. Amen.
1 John 4:14
2 Colossians 3:4
3 John 15:4
4 John 15:4
5 John 6:35
6 John 1:5
7 Ephesians 2:10
8 John 15:5
9 John 7:37-38
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Paul Nordman—Author 