It’s dry in Madrid. In a way that has us scrambling to buy even bigger humidifiers and water bottles, it’s painfully obvious that Spain is an arid, desert climate in the winter. Most days you can get by with a sweater and hat as protection from the cold, but the dryness is what will cause the most damage if we’re not careful to hydrate, moisturize, and bundle up.
The dryness is an issue all year, but we tend to notice it the most when cold and wind follow. When the sun sets all too early and our bodies protest the hibernation. In the summer, we’ll complain about the heat. In the spring and autumn, allergies. But here, the dryness never changes.
It’s a reminder to me of how often we, as followers of Christ, only notice the spiritual “dryness” of the world around us when it affects us directly or makes us uncomfortable. Family, it’s always been there. Every generation, back to before Noah, has been marked by a dry apathy towards the goodness of God.
We praise God in the New Year for His mercy of letting us get uncomfortable with the thirst of the world around us. Because it shouldn’t be routine to see the hurt and brokenness of the world and brush it off as “how it is” or “how it always will be.”
And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also He said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.”
This is our portion as Christians. We not only are promised new, fullness of life, our portion is to hope for our thirsty world. Do we believe God when he promises a free drink of life to the thirsty? Do we believe this for our families, our neighbors, our friends and coworkers? How about those who live a different lifestyle than us? How about Christians who live in sin and compromise? Do we believe these promises for them as well?
I think if we did, if I did, we would all live so differently.
Lord, would you fill us with hope of life for all of those who thirst around us, even ourselves.