Brown's Daily Word 9-23-08

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for this beautiful day. The brilliant fall season is ushering in brilliant and magnificent colors here in New York. It is going to be sunny and stunning today. Praise the Lord for His majesty and mercy. He makes all the best things in life free. He desires the best for us. He desires that we hunger after the best He offers.
Jim Collins’ book, "Good To Great", sold more than a million copies. The first sentence captures his main point, “Good is the enemy of great.” Collins believes that most organizations fail to become great because they are good, and we settle for good. Good is good enough for most people. Most Christians remember a time when they thirsted deeply for more of Jesus. There is a song that captures how we felt, “More about Jesus would I know, more of His grace to others show, more of His saving fullness see, more of His love who died for me. More, more about Jesus….” After the iceberg ripped open the hull of the Titanic, all who stayed with her would die. Of course, there were many who did not realize that a fatal blow had been struck. They continued to party with no fear—singing, drinking, dancing, and laughing. Others knew the ship hit ice, but they refused the lifeboats because they could not imagine the Titanic sinking. The headlines of the April 16, 1912, Los Angeles Times tell the story and a parable, “Fifteen Hundred Lives Lost When Titanic Plunges Headlong Into Depths of the Sea.” Many passengers failed to recognize that they were lost, even resisting efforts to get them into lifeboats. So today, too few realize their own need. There is an old saying among evangelists which states, “The hardest work is not getting folks saved, but getting them lost.” John Piper adds, “The hardest thing is not to satisfy thirst, but to make people feel thirst for God. All men thirst. But not all thirst for God.” What do you thirst for? When Jesus says, “If anyone thirsts,” I take him to indicate thirst for God, for his kingdom, for more of his grace and glory. In Matthew 5.6, Jesus blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Jesus does not promise to satisfy thirst for riches and personal glory. Everyone thirsts after something. Many thirst after pleasure—whether it be new purchases, food, music, or any selfish fantasies. Thirsty people seek to quench their thirst, often stopping to sip from cisterns, hoping to satisfy their desire. But do we thirst for God? Jesus offers himself as water for all who do, for all who feel anxiety of soul, conviction of sin, need of forgiveness, loneliness for a permanent home, the sense of lost-ness, and a need for purpose. He is the water of Life for all who know the brokenness of the world and the heart-breaking pain of fractured relationships, and for all who want a change of heart, a delight in what is good, victory over sin, more courage, more hope, more purity, more faith, more love, and more confidence. These are the deep desires of those who thirst for God. C. S. Lewis said that it is refusing to be satisfied with “drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered [you. We are] 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.” John Piper said, “It is not that our desire for pleasure is too strong but too weak! We have settled for a home, a family, a few friends, a job, a television, a microwave oven, an occasional night out, a yearly vacation, and perhaps a new personal computer. We have accustomed ourselves to such meager, short-lived pleasures that our capacity for joy has shriveled.” In C. S. Lewis’ "The Silver Chair", Jill Pole is whisked away from England to Narnia. The adventure begins poorly as she is frightened by a large lion and ends up face down in the grass, crying. When she stopped, she found she was dreadfully thirsty. She heard one, small, persistent sound, and felt almost sure it was the sound of running water. There was no sign of the lion; but there were so many trees about that it might easily be quite close without her seeing it. But her thirst was very bad now, and she plucked up her courage to go and look for that running water. It was not difficult to decide where the sound was coming from. It grew clearer every moment and, sooner than she expected, she came to an open glade and saw the stream. But although the sight of the water made her feel ten times thirstier than before, she didn’t rush forward and drink. She stood as still as if she had been turned into stone, with her mouth wide open. And she had a very good reason; just on this side of the stream lay the lion. The Lion spoke to her, “If you’re thirsty, you may drink.” For a second she stared here and there, wondering who had spoken. Then the voice said again, “If you are thirsty, come and drink,” and of course she remembered what Scrubb had said about animals talking in that other world and realized that it was the lion speaking. "She had not seen its lips move this time, and the voice was not like a man’s. It was deeper, wilder, and stronger; a sort of heavy, golden voice. It did not make her any less frightened than she had been before, but it made her frightened in rather a different way." “Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion? “I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill. “Then drink,” said the Lion. “May I – could I – would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill? "The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic. 'Will you promise not to – do anything to me if I do come?' Said Jill." 'I make no promise,' said the Lion. "Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer." "'Do you eat girls?' she said." “'I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,' said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it." “'I daren’t come and drink,' said Jill." “'Then you will die of thirst,' said the Lion." “'Oh, dear,' said Jill, coming another step nearer. 'I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.'” “'There is no other stream,' said the Lion." "It never occurred to Jill to disbelieve the Lion—no one who had seen his stern face could do that—and her mind suddenly made itself up. It was the worst thing she had ever had to do, but she went forward to the stream, knelt down, and began scooping up water in her hand. It was the coldest, most refreshing water she had ever tasted…." It will not be safe to come to Jesus to drink. But it will be the coldest, most refreshing water you ever taste, if you have the courage to come.
In Him,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW4oJ0jTHqg