Imagine being at the grocery store and being really thirsty. You head over to the drink aisle, and what do you see? Hundreds of drink choices all at the tip of your fingers.
Your initial reaction is joy, but it slowly fades as you wonder what will quench your thirst. “Which drink is the right one for me?”
How long will you stand there? Will the drink you choose actually quench your thirst? Or only make you thirstier?
I tend to think that nine times out of 10, we choose the drink that only makes us thirstier …
About two months ago, I felt like the weight of the world was crashing down on me. The pressure was on for a good family vacation, pressure from work to complete my current assignments, and a strong hit of allergies that just wouldn’t go away. In short, I was tired and overwhelmed.
I had turned down the drink aisle at the store and was faced with the overwhelming decision of what drink to choose.
As the time passed, I continued to pour more of my cup out to family, work and sickness, and eventually I started to run dry. My normal motivations turned to annoyances. My typical good attitude turned toward anger and frustration, and I just couldn’t find the right drink to help re-fill me. My tank was empty. Can you relate?
Instead of walking down the aisle and finding the drinks that would truly fill me back up, I chose the ones that made me thirstier.
Here’s what they looked like:
- Instead of turning to God when I felt lonely and bored, I’d simply turn on the television and try to make it all go away. (thirsty)
- Instead of listening to a book, podcast or even the Scriptures on my long drive into work, I turned to music or the news. (thirstier)
- Instead of getting on my knees and asking God into each situation, I simply blamed Him for my issues and tried to resolve them myself. (dehydration)
I realize now that during those times of struggle, I was searching in all the wrong ways for my cup to be filled. When I should have been seeking Jesus in each situation for strength and fulfillment, I was turning to man-made options that have no quenching power!
The best water for a man who’s thirsty for a better manhood is the Living Water. Jesus explains this better than I do in the following verses.
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again” (John 4:13-14).
- The next time you face a hard decision at work, choose the Living Water.
- The next time you have a fight with your wife, choose the Living Water.
- The next time you feel tired and overwhelmed, choose the Living Water.
Here are three big changes to make in your life if you just can’t quench your thirst:
1. Recognize your behavior. Take some time to review your activities over the last couple of weeks. What do they look like? Have you been engaging in activities that will fill you up, or have you slipped into sugary juice that will only make you thirstier? Recognize your behavior and choose to react.
2. Make adjustments. Think back to a time when you were more satisfied and your thirst was quenched. What activities were you doing that filled your cup? Get back to reading the Scriptures, get back to the time when you knew you couldn’t fill yourself up and get back to seeking Christ first in your bad situations. Make those adjustments today!
3. Set a long-term plan. One of the first things I did when I started realizing I was dry was to write down why I was dry. Take some time to journal about your dry times so that you can better understand where you are, where you need to go and what you need to do. Once you have resolved the issues in the journal, use those points to make a long-term plan. Set goals that will help you be more consistent and help you better recognize your behavior when you start feeling dry.
Every man has the ability to live out a manhood that matters.
After reviewing these changes, what is one area of your life that needs the Living Water?
Manturity is a blog built on establishing spiritual maturity in today’s man. The goal is to assist men in building better marriages and help them grow in maturity and explore different aspects of manhood. Manturity.com features new weekly blog posts, daily social-media updates and a powerful resources page. Stay up to date with the Manturity blog communities on Facebook and Twitter.
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Joseph Mattera 
BJ Foster 
Shelby Bowen