Quenching a Spiritual Thirst

I once heard a pastor speaking to a young man during a church service while holding up a can of Sprite. "Obey your thirst," he said to the young man.

The pastor was referring to the thirst that God puts in us for Him. He explained that we can get into a lot of trouble if we try to quench that thirst with things that aren't helpful and don't satisfy. The admonition I heard that day has come back to me a number of times over the years. As I look back, my life has largely been guided by efforts to quench my thirst for God.

Although I was raised in the church, it wasn't until I was a young teen that I truly found God for myself while at a Christian camp. Though I decided to make Christ the center of my life after that time, I found myself always searching for more.

Someone looking at my life might think I have a spiritual version of attention deficit disorder. I was born into a liberal protestant family, and later identified with evangelical Christianity; I have been a committed social activist as well as a contemplative charismatic. Some of the most profound influence in my faith came from 12 years I spent in a predominantly African American congregation.

The common thread in all these experiences has been my thirst for God and for worshiping and serving with others who love Him. From the liberal protestants, I learned the importance of relating my faith to social issues, from the evangelicals I learned about surrendering myself to Christ, from the contemplative Christians I grew in appreciating the simple presence of God in silence and from the charismatic, the power of worship and life in the Spirit. I have had an incredibly rich life having been exposed to the various revelations of Christ that I've experienced in each of these faith traditions and each is a part of who I have become.

I hope that I will never be completely successful in quenching my thirst for God. It keeps me open to His presence in unexpected ways and continually reaching for more of Him.