“Jesus said to her, ‘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. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” (John 4:13-14) We live in a very discontented world where everybody seems to be on a quest to find ultimate happiness. Perhaps that is why we buy the latest phones, look for upgraded houses, and seek new relationships and jobs. The truth is that there is nothing wrong with desiring advancements or relationships in life. The issue is not necessarily in the things we seek for - but rather in the helpless state of the human condition which creates a false sense of contentment in these things.
Human beings are made for relationships, and we obviously need material things to
function in this world. But we don't seem to ask ourselves the relevant questions
concerning the extent to which the things we seek can actually satisfy. Why does the
magic or perceived wonder that comes with the things we seek quickly diminish
or vanish? Why do we find ourselves in repeated cycles of chasing after these things
that should have been ultimately fulfilling? If those things we have already
achieved were not enough to satisfy us, what guarantees do we have that the next
ones we pursue will?
Many of us will continue to pursue and achieve academic degrees, career goals, and relationships. We may buy the latest phones, cars, and the house of our dreams only to ask ourselves at the end, "Why am I still unhappy?". Tim Challis, a Canadian Pastor and Christian book critic puts it this way, “When your little heart has gotten all that it desires, your little heart will find something else to desire.” Ultimate satisfaction in this life is not possible if it is not first rooted in the person of Christ. The void that people are looking to fill is too big for any created thing. That void is not the absence of something missing, rather, it is the separation of man from God. True contentment is not borne out of a life of possession or fulfilled achievements, but out of a regenerate heart.
The Source of Our Discontentment: Sin
The misconception of the true state of the human condition is part of the reason
why the prosperity gospel sounds appealing. It is the false narrative that the purpose of the gospel is to make us prosperous in all our earthly endeavors and take away all our human challenges. This is one of the greatest lies perpetuated in the history of the Church that continues to persist. It is the false notion that if we pray, fast, or give money “well” enough to God through the church, then we are guaranteed to be happy in life. Professor D. A. Carson in his book, The Gagging of God; Christianity Confronts Pluralism, sheds light on this more profoundly saying, “Weighing how many times the presentation of the gospel has been eased by portraying Jesus as the one who fixes marriages, ensures the American dream, conceals loneliness, gives power and generally makes us happy. He is portrayed that way primarily because in our effort to make Jesus appear relevant, we have cast the dilemma in merely contemporary categories - taking our queues from the perceived needs of the
day.” In a world where we keep hearing that Jesus Christ is the solution, we have failed to adequately communicate the problem entirely. The problem is the condition of
the human heart: sin. It is the fallen nature of man that separates him from God and puts him under His divine wrath. It is the problem that forms the foundation of all human problems. The condition that makes us seek the kind of fulfillment that can only be found in the Creator (Romans 1).
To understand the gospel, this truth cannot be emphasized enough. Sin is not just the action that violates the holy commands of God; it is the twistedness of the human soul that separates him from God. Psalm 51:5 and Ephesians 2:1-3 show that it is not just what we have done or do wrong, but who we are from birth: a rebellious soul. In our sin, we are separated and cut off from the source of all true happiness and satisfaction. In the scriptures, the wrath of God is depicted as unquenched thirst. “Who can endure the burning of His anger? His wrath gushes forth like fire, and the rocks are broken up by Him.” (Nahum 1:6). The soul that is separated from God is the soul that is desolate (Isaiah 44:3, Psalm 107:9, and John 4:13-14). It is the soul of you and me if we have failed to surrender our hearts to God. It is what makes us seek to be happy in everything but God.
On the cross, we see Jesus crying out, “I thirst” (John 19:28). If the significance of the event on the cross makes us put everything into perspective, then we know it couldn’t have just been a physical thirst. In taking all our sins and transgressions upon Himself, He was cut off from the source of ultimate sustenance. That was why He cried out again to the Father, “why have you forsaken me?” The Father had not forsaken the Son. The Son, in bearing our punishment, had to endure the momentary separation from the Father.
The Beginning of True Contentment: Surrender to Jesus Christ
In the gospel of John (John 4:13-42), we read of the encounter of Jesus and the Samaritan woman by a well. This encounter is reflective of the state of all men before they surrender their lives to Christ. In an attempt to draw the woman into thinking about the state of her soul, Jesus uses a metaphor of a thirsty person to depict a thirsty soul. The woman, who initially did not understand the Truth that Jesus conveyed, kept deflecting the topic because she was still searching for answers for ways of fulfilling her thirsty soul. Our discontentment in life will almost always find root in the state of our heart. That is why, like the woman, we keep going back to the wells of this life. Before Jesus goes deeper into the cause of her discontented life, He confronts her with her sins (John 4:16-18). It wasn’t uncharacteristic of Jesus to use physical experiences to draw our attention to spiritual realities. He addresses the woman’s needs but He does it in a unique way, the way only a Savior can: He addresses the woman’s sins. As much as we have ambitions to pursue, relationships to build and things to enjoy, our contentment in them will only go as far as we understand the gospel. The whole encounter does not only teach us that Jesus is the one that initiates and freely gives salvation, but also a sense of true contentment regardless of our circumstances in this life (Philippians 4:11-13). A healthy understanding of the gospel does not only help shape our choices and desires, but also helps us put our satisfaction of them in the right place. In his evangelism booklet, What is the Gospel, Pastor Anthony Carter narrates a story about a young man who needed counseling on some thorny issues within his marriage. “Before we began, I told him that I didn’t have much for him in a way of my opinion or fancy words or clever speech. I only wanted to direct him toward the scriptures in general and the gospel in particular, unfortunately he later expressed that my reliance on the Bible and the gospel was not enough”. Pastor Carter goes on to write, “I will say, however, that in this case and all others, when the gospel is not enough, you have no hope.” Everything is about the gospel, and it is only in the light of this truth that we can find true happiness and satisfaction, regardless of our circumstances.
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