December 31 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

John 7:37–39

Devotional

Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus. Until the last day of the feast he pleaded with the Jews, even as on this last day of the year he pleads with us and waits to be gracious to us. Praiseworthy indeed is the longsuffering of the Saviour in bearing with some of us year after year in spite of our provocations, rebellions, and resistances to his Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders that we are still in the land of mercy!

Pity expressed herself most plainly for Jesus “cried out.” That implies not only the loudness of his voice but also the tenderness of his tones. He entreats us to be reconciled. “Since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). What earnest, heart-rending terms are these! How deep must be the love which makes the Lord weep over sinners, and like a mother woo his children to his bosom! Surely at the call of such a cry our hearts will come willingly.

He has made provision most abundantly. All is provided that a person could need to quench his soul’s thirst. To his conscience the atonement brings peace. To his understanding the gospel brings the richest instruction. To his heart the person of Jesus is the noblest object of affection. To the whole man the truth as it is in Jesus supplies the purest nourishment. Thirst is terrible, but Jesus can remove it. Even though a soul is utterly famished, Jesus can restore it.

He makes his proclamation most freely—everyone who thirsts is welcome. No other distinction is made but that of thirst. Whether it be the thirst of avarice, ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, whoever suffers from it is invited. The thirst may be bad in itself—not a sign of grace but rather a mark of inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper draughts of lust—but it is not goodness in the creature which brings him the invitation. The Lord Jesus sends it freely, and without respect of persons.

He declares personality most fully. The sinner must come to Jesus—not to works, not to ordinances, not to doctrines—but to a personal Redeemer, who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree. The bleeding, dying, rising Saviour is the only star of hope to a sinner. Oh for grace to come now and drink, before the sun sets upon the year’s last day!

He does not so much as hint at any waiting or preparation. Drinking represents a receiving for which no fitness is required. A fool, a thief, a prostitute can drink. And so sinfulness of character is no bar to the invitation to believe in Jesus. We need no golden cup, no ornamented chalice, in which to convey the water to the thirsty. The mouth of poverty is welcome to stoop down and quaff the flowing flood. Blistered, leprous, filthy lips may touch the stream of divine love. They cannot pollute it but shall themselves be purified. Jesus is the fountain of hope.

O dear reader, hear the dear Redeemer’s loving voice as he cries to each of us,

“LET ANYONE
WHO IS THIRSTY
COME TO ME
AND DRINK.”

[Dec 31]

Extracted from C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening (public domain), language modernized by Larry E. Wilson.