I'm Thirsty

I have to share this revelation I received while eating potato chips. Now, mind you, this week I was eating some salty potato chips, and my mouth started getting dry. My first thought was, “I need some water!”

It made me think about Pastor Dharius Daniels’s message, “Stay Salty.” Then it hit me: Salt makes you thirsty.  I started thinking about what that meant spiritually. I kept repeating it: “Salt makes you thirsty. Salt makes you thirsty!”

Jesus tells us we are the salt of the earth. Our saltiness isn’t just for us. It’s for the people God has called us to reach. Our lives may be the only Bible someone sees.  That led me to this question: When people encounter us as followers of Christ, does how we live make them thirsty? Is my life salty enough to make someone thirsty? Is yours?

I don’t mean thirsty for us or for our attention or approval. I mean wanting to know the God they see at work in us, whether for the first time or through a deeper relationship with Him.

Our kindness, integrity, and how we treat people when we don’t get our way can point them toward Christ or away from Him. You and I are not perfect, but our saltiness has an impact, whether we want it to or not.

Although salt makes people thirsty, we are not the ones who can quench that thirst. That’s where the water comes in.  I don’t know about you, but when I eat something salty, only water can really quench my thirst. In the same way, our lives should point people toward the God who can satisfy their thirst.

In John 4, Jesus offers the woman at the well living water. He tells her: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  Later, in John 7, it is explained that the living water refers to the Holy Spirit. So our saltiness should lead people toward God and the living water He offers, the Holy Spirit.

The connection between salt and water goes beyond satisfying thirst, though. When that thirst leads someone toward God, they can also receive the cleansing that only He can provide. Think about how we use water in the natural. We shower and bathe with it, wash our clothes, clean our dishes, and brush our teeth with it. Now, mind you, we use soap or other cleansing agents, but you’re not getting in the shower with soap and Powerade! You need water.

Just as we need water to wash ourselves physically, we need Jesus to cleanse us spiritually. 1 John 1:7 tells us that His blood cleanses us from all sin. God knows we cannot cleanse ourselves from sin. So this notion of “I have to get right before I come to God or come to church” is a lie the enemy uses to keep us from Christ. We end up staying away from the very One who can do what we cannot do for ourselves. You don’t have to clean yourself up before coming to Him. You come to Him for the cleansing.

Our need for God doesn’t end there, though. Saltiness leads to thirst, which leads to water, and water is necessary for life, health, and growth. Seeds need water to take root, keep growing, and mature into the plants they were created to be. Our bodies need water to function. Up to 60% of the human adult body is composed of water. Water is already part of our makeup, yet we still need it to sustain us. No matter how healthy or strong you are, you cannot survive without water, point blank period.

That connects to our need for God. We were made in His image, and we need a relationship with Him to thrive and live fully in who He created us to be. Just as our bodies need water to maintain life, we need the living water to sustain us spiritually.

Jeremiah 17 gives us a picture of what that dependence on God looks like in verses 7–8 (NIV): “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

The tree isn’t bearing fruit because it’s so great on its own. Its roots are connected to the water that gives it life. The drought comes, but the tree still has access to what sustains it.

That’s the connection for us. Our circumstances can change without cutting us off from our source. Heartache, disappointment, loss, betrayal, unemployment, loneliness, sickness, and divorce can come into our lives. Those things are real, and they can hurt deeply. Yet even there, God can sustain us, and we can still bear fruit.

That doesn’t mean we have to act like we’re okay when we’re not. It doesn’t mean that what someone did to us was acceptable or that the pain shouldn’t affect us. Someone can use their free will to do something harmful that should never have happened to us. Being connected to God doesn’t require us to pretend otherwise.

It means that what happened to us does not have to end what God is growing in us. We can be hurting and still growing. We can be grieving and still loving. We can be facing uncertainty and still extending kindness. We can still become who God has called us to be.

This is where it comes right back to our saltiness. People may know some of what we’re going through. They may see the disappointment, the loss, or the uncertainty, and they may also see fruit that those circumstances cannot explain. They may wonder, “How are you still able to love after that? How are you still showing kindness? What is sustaining you through all of this?”

Those questions can become a thirst to know the God who is sustaining. The fruit they see isn’t proof that we’re so strong on our own. It points to the One our roots are connected to.

Our saltiness may look different depending on the season we’re in, but even in a difficult season, our lives can help someone want to know Him. They may be facing their own drought and need to know that there is a source of life available to them, too.  As Christ sustains us, the fruit in our lives can make someone else thirsty for Him.

All of this came from eating salty potato chips and needing water. Why?  Salt makes you thirsty. ☺️