We Americans have so much. Just so much. But, it doesn’t fix the ache. That insatiable longing for something more, something better, something soul-satisfying. Perhaps all our wealth and success only magnify the ache. Because no matter how high we’re able to climb the corporate ladder, or no matter how much stuff we accumulate, it’s never quite good enough.

A hundred folks could sing our praises and a thousand friends could load us up with accolades, but at the end of the day, we’re still searching for that one more. That one more Facebook like. That one more Twitter follower. No matter how big the platform we stand on, it just doesn’t remedy the deepest longing. That longing to be filled with something that satiates all the dry and empty places.

And I think there are people who are terribly thirsty and they desperately want to know the remedy for that blasted ache. Is it just a matter of opinion, or is there truly something, Someone who can fill us?

Jesus makes such outrageous claims. He actually claims to be the Remedy for the human heart. He calls Himself the bread we need for nourishment and the water we need to drink and He says He’s the only Way, the only Truth. He is Life. Full. Abundant. Satisfying.

And the thing about Jesus is that you either have to take Him at His word or you have to take Him for a lunatic. He can’t be just a nice person or a good Teacher. No one who claims to be the Center of all things, the way to eternal life, the Son of God and the Savior of the world can be a “good person” unless He actually was what He claimed to be. So, we either have to believe Him to be who He claimed, or we must call Him a crazy man. At some point, we all have to decide what we will do with Jesus. 

Jesus was not concerned with being politically correct. He leaves no room for us to follow Him and anyone else. He lifts Himself up as the Remedy and then He means to be our very life. This puts a huge rift in things. There is a radical difference between American Christianity and followers of Jesus. I’ve stopped calling myself a Christian because American Christianity, for the most part, looks nothing like Jesus. And for my friends who have a warped view of God, because of Christians they’re associated with, I encourage them to shirk what they’ve observed of Christianity and just simply get to know Jesus.

Jesus claims to be the Remedy for the Ache. I have tasted and indeed He is.

I believe Him.

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)