Everyone’s looking for something. Whether it be in the form of love, acceptance, stability, peace, joy, excitement or purpose—they all want something to fill a lacking area in their life. They search for it, they spend decades of their lives “experimenting”, or trying to find whatever suits them; sometimes this might end with a boring, desk job for the rest of your life, or you could find yourself a hopeless addict, destroying their life in search for the next bump.
This is a bit full on, but when we’re playing with ideas like this, wanting to explore all the realms of possibility and understand just how dark we can go, needing to see just how low we can get, needing to know the Hell we could see on Earth—that’s reality for some people.
You might be sitting at your computer right now, sipping your tea and enjoying a leisurely reading session where you can observe from a safe distance the horrible atrocities that mankind can be capable of, things can get truly dark.
I’ve been there
My apologies for getting a tad cynical, but this is a reality I know and understand. I’ve been there, at a place where I know I did more harm to society than good, where I had no purpose in life, where I was caught up in “The Search for Everything” … and I hated it… and I hated myself. I believed in Jesus—at least intellectually—but that didn’t necessarily mean I was doing what he wanted.
This was a time where I lived with my parents, played video games all day, and barely left the house. This evolved into a downward spiral of hating myself and feeling completely useless as a human being, often wondering if the world might be better without me.
This only ever resolved as a thought, I never turned to self-harm—however I know what darkness I am capable of. I know what I might have done had my life been more pressured both externally and internally. Life was hard, yet, through the search, I always ended back at Jesus.
New resolve
Things are better now. I’ve discovered my calling, and through the focus of that, my life has improved drastically. But, I’ve been left with a conviction, to never see that sort of hell in anyone’s life again. Now I know what I’m capable of and I know what it feels like, I know where other people might end up too.
It scares me.
However, as I mentioned earlier, this ‘Search for Everything’ always ends up at Jesus. People are looking for that fulfilment, for that calling, for that missing part of themselves they always knew was there, and only Jesus can fill it. That’s what the search means, that’s what everyone’s looking for—Jesus.
“If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” (John Chapter 4, verse 10).
The woman Jesus was talking to was looking for this sort of fulfillment in the physical, and Jesus told her about the fulfillment in Him. The water Jesus offers never runs out, it never leaves you thirsty, it always comes refreshing and purifying. Everything else will fade away, everything else will fail to satisfy, nothing can ever compare to the Living Water that Jesus provides. No matter how far, wide, deep or high you search, you will never find anything to compare to it. It is a water of eternal satisfaction.
Craving the water
This is the Water I discovered, that saved me from myself, that showed me my purpose in the identity He gave me. The Search always leads to Jesus. Like a crossroads with hundreds of paths, there’s only one that ends in life; every other track ends in Death.
It’s a scary thought, but I want you to be encouraged, friends! I don’t mean to be a cynic or to be negative, I simply want to paint a picture of some of my perspective on something I see unsaved people doing so much. I know that so much pain and suffering would be reduced if everyone knew that one truth—the road to Jesus is the road to Eternal Life.
My search was certainly not unique, and I definitely never went as far as some people did, but Jesus saved me. And through me He now works to save others. It is through this conviction, through this knowing, that I can understand the struggle of the Search. That I can try and try harder to show people the right path, and that I can articulate to people just HOW MUCH Jesus can truly save them from themselves. Jesus is alive, and He gives Living Water.
Josiah Gray lives in Logan City, Australia. He is currently studying teaching at Christian Heritage College and is committed to telling the story of Jesus to the next generation. Josiah’s previous articles may be viewed at: https://www.pressserviceinternational.org/josiah-gray.html