COME TO THE WATER

‘Fame doesn’t fulfill you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary’. Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn Monroe was not just famous, she was the heartthrob of a nation in her era. Millions would have given anything to have the fame she had, yet she found no more than temporary warmth in her wild fame. Once man’s basic necessities are met, the pursuit of fame, money and power summarizes his life in today’s world. In chasing these things, what he is really looking for is the elusive satisfaction that can make his life complete and meaningful. But the very few who get to the pinnacle, find themselves surprisingly empty. You simply have to search elsewhere.

The words of Isaiah the prophet, written around 700 BC, are relevant and interesting,

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?
———-

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.”

(Isaiah 55:1,2,6,7)

Isaiah’s words capture the very essence of man’s cry- the thirst for fulfillment. Interestingly, while popular culture would have you go through the painful and practically impossible journey to reach Hollywood or the NBA to ultimately find satisfaction, Isaiah tells us that it costs you nothing and is available to all who are willing to seek it. He echoes the sentiment shared by Marilyn that most of what man accumulates and labors for does not bring satisfaction.

Yet the pathway to satisfaction and fulfillment comes with becoming right with God. Man’s need for God is immutable. He is a spiritual-physical being whose physical pursuits need to orient around a spiritual core that has found stability. That stability comes when man recognizes his sinfulness, breaks his pride and comes kneeling before God in repentance seeking pardon and redemption.

Very few even embark on the journey to find redemption and will expend their lives chasing mirages, accumulating much and being fulfilled little. To one who genuinely seeks it, redemption is found only on the cross, where Jesus died for the sins of man and offers pardon and redemption for a quenched soul. It is then that fulfillment comes home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22GZB6urwJc

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