On this final day of 2023, Charles Spurgeon has this message in his Morning and Evening, based on this heartfelt plea from Christ in John.
“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” – John 7:37
Spurgeon notes that Jesus is both calling and desperately pleading for us, the thirsty (And God knows people with our conditions are thirsty), to drink from him, and ends on this note:
“Drinking represents a reception for which no fitness is required. A fool, a thief, a harlot can drink; and so sinfulness of character is no bar to the invitation to believe in Jesus.“
Amen – you don’t have to be in any shape, of any moral character, in any condition, to drink – except to thirst.
So if you thirst today, don’t think about who you are or what you’ve done — just listen to the words of Christ.
He’s offering you the drink.
This site is about depression/anxiety and other conditions. It’s not about fixes. Those are medical complications of life, and so must be treated medically, as a doctor and you see fit.
But if you want to come to Christ tonight, don’t listen to any church that says the glass ain’t for you unless you’re XYZ.
God created you. He loves you.
And even if tonight turns dark, as nights often do, he will watch over you, as he has always done.
I have trouble believing it, believe me. It’s been a long journey, Jesus and me, and I know it has for you, as well.
There are times we wonder if he really cares. I do.
But there is no moment he wonders if he really cares.
Isaiah 49:15 gets us as close to Christ’s love, viscerally, as any other.
“Can a mother forget her nursing her child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!”
When our sons were born, my wife and I were fixated, supernaturally, on their well-being and nurture. Not from responsibility but love.
And Jesus is as fixated on you. He was before time began, and until our earthly time is over.
Infants don’t understand the kind of love that waits and watches over them night and day, and we often don’t even know Christ’s.
But our ignorance doesn’t change his heart. It can’t, any more than an infant’s ignorance can change the 24/7 we pour into our kids.
Finally, on this New Year’s Eve, since I’m often struck by both melancholy and nostalgia for a time I wasn’t even alive (the 1940s), here’s the best NYE song on earth.
Happy New Year’s, dear readers. As I’ve said, my posting has been sparse due to a number of medical issues, but I hope to be with you more in 2024.
Thank you for praying for me, and I am praying for you. Wherever you are, we are all in this fight together. Oh, and with Christ at our side.
If any of you dear readers are struggling this season…
Find a psychiatrist here.
Find a therapist here.
If you’re having thoughts of harming yourself or others, please call the National Suicide Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
[Painting: The Lord is My Shepherd, Sallman]
