Living Water

Every morning I get up and drink a large glass of water. Water is a vital nutrient for survival. I can't remember exactly, but more than half of our bodies are composed of water, and our brain is 85% water. We can live quite awhile without food, but we will die within two or three days without water.

Today I'm going to share a recent study session that I had regarding "living water. Bruce R. McConkie defined living water as "the words of eternal life, the message of salvation, the truths about God and His kingdom; it is the doctrine of the gospel." Jesus Christ is the fountain of living water. He IS living water.

In John 4:10, the Lord meets a woman getting water. He asks her for a drink, thus opening up a conversation between them. This thought came to me as I was reading this-the woman asked him how he would draw the living water because he had nothing to draw it with. Christ has no need of anything to draw this living water because He IS the fountain of living water!  He is the source. I love this story because it is the first time the Lord witnesses who He is-and that person was a woman!

In Jeremiah we learn of of the apostasy of the people. First they have forsaken the fountain of living water, which is Jesus Christ, and they have made cisterns, which are supposed to hold water, but interestingly they are broken! Therefore, they cannot hold water. I take this to mean the idols and gods of this world, which, when we are focused on them, cannot hold the living water.

There is opposition in all things. I learned in 1 Nephi 11 that Satan has an opposition to living waters. Nephi saw the fountain of filthy water, which led to hell. This is Satan's counterfeit and opposition to the love of God and the fountain of living water.

There seems to be a pattern of progression as I have read through these scriptures. It's as if we can become our own pools of living water, being able to learn and receive all mysteries. But we have to be willing and humble....come unto Christ because he is the fountain or the source of all living water. There is also an opposition to this living water. Satan has a counterfeit to everything good and virtuous.  We must constantly partake of this living water from its source so that eventually we be able to reach the goal of being our own pool  of living water, a reservoir, storing up and then sharing when it is needed.

When I thirst after the words of Christ, and read and study His word, I am filled as if I was drinking a large, cold glass of clear water. Let me not let my spirit thirst and die from the lack of this living water!