Excerpted from today's morning devotional by Charles Spurgeon:

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink."
John 7:37

Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and 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. Admirable indeed is the longsuffering of the Saviour in bearing with some of us year after year, notwithstanding our provocations, rebellions, and resistance of his Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders that we are still in the land of mercy!
. . .

The sinner must come to Jesus, not to works, ordinances, or doctrines, but to a personal Redeemer, who his own self bare 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, ere the sun sets upon the year's last day!

No waiting or preparation is so much as hinted at. Drinking represents a reception for which no fitness is required. A fool, a thief, a harlot can drink; and so sinfulness of character is no bar to the invitation to believe in Jesus. We want no golden cup, no bejewelled 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 fount of hope. Dear reader, hear the dear Redeemer's loving voice as he cries to each of us,

"IF ANY MAN THIRST,
LET HIM
COME UNTO ME
AND DRINK."

Are you thirsty?

Are you looking back with regret on another wasted year, or looking forward with dread to the one coming? Do you have hope? Are you angry with life, or with God? Where do you get your thirst quenched?

We do our share of goofing around here on Thinklings, no doubt. I personally struggle to express myself most times, and it's just easier to throw up a YouTube video, poke fun at things, or re-post something a better writer has written.

But on this last day of the year, realizing we have just a few readers but assuming that not everyone who comes here is at peace with God, I earnestly exhort you to drink of Jesus if you are not a believer. No, I'm not promising you that He'll solve all your problems quickly and easily (and He's not promising that either). He will bring new problems into your life, most likely. I'm not saying He's the road to the riches, fame, and popularity that the world trumpets, deceitfully, as the way to fulfillment.

Here is what Jesus is the way to: He is the way, the only way, to our Creator God. He is the fulfillment of the deepest needs that are inherent to the human soul: the need for real belonging, for true community, for hope, for unconditional love, for real fulfillment, for the truth, for real, abundant, vibrant, life. And for life that is eternal! All of these are found in Him. He is the one, the only one, who can quench the insatiable thirst that you may feel.

At Christmas, we celebrate His coming to be with us, to willingly share our human flesh, toil and struggles. Christmas may have been a bright season for you. I hope it was. But maybe you wondered, somewhere in there, if there was any way to find something real behind all the glitzy lights and temporary treasures.

Wouldn't it be great to find that truth, here on this last day of the year? To be able to fully and joyfully celebrate, in just a few months, as if for the first time, His passion, His atoning death, and His victorious resurrection at Easter?

Jesus invites you to come to Him, and have your thirst quenched.

Of course, not everyone who is not His is thirsty. But if you are thirsty, I hope you will accept His invitation. Come unto Jesus, and drink.