God's Invitation

Chuckle: Patient: "Doctor, I'm really nervous. This is my first operation. Doctor: "I know exactly how you feel. You're my first patient."

Quote: "People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But, people will never forget how you made them feel." --Unknown source.

"Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life" (Revelation 22:17c NIV).

God's invitation to receive eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ is a universal one, and it is proclaimed repeatedly throughout Scripture and by Christians empowered by the Holy Spirit. In the final verses of Scripture, Jesus extends His invitation one last time. No one is outside God's circle of love and no one is left off His invitation list.

The entire Bible is God's love letter to all people. In our passage, we see God's invitation to come and take His free gift of eternal life which Jesus sometimes calls the "water of life." God knows we all get thirsty for water, and he used the term "water of life," to help us understand that we should thirst after His living water, and how that water will satisfy our eternal thirst.

You may recall the account of Jesus meeting the Samaritan women at a well (John 4:10-15). There He introduced her to the living water that only He could give her, and invited her to drink of that water as a gift from God. The same image is portrayed in our passage and expanded to include all people in Christ's invitation to come and drink of the water of life. The water of life is a metaphor for salvation and it is a free gift of God which can be obtained by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

In the Beatitudes, Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6 NIV). The psalmist wrote, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" (Psalm 42:1-2a NIV). How about you; do you thirst after the things of God? Do you yearn for that living water that will quench your spiritual thirst forever? God's invitation is for you. "For the Son of Man (Jesus) came to seek and to save what was lost" (Luke 19:10 NIV).

In our world, many are dying of spiritual thirst all around us. Once you become a Christian, you become God's voice to extend His invitation to people everywhere as His Spirit provides you the strength, courage, and persistence to do so. While Jesus was on the earth He actively sought out the lost and personally invited them to follow Him. Now, He wants to continue to extend that invitation through us. My prayer is that each of us will be found faithful in extending God's invitation to those around us.

Love, Jerry & Dotse