John 7:37-38 – On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." (NIV)

When I was a child growing up in the south before the days of rural electrification, my relatives got their water from a shallow well with a pump. The amazing thing to me was that the pump had to be primed, which meant pouring water down the pipe, before one could get water from it. My uncle told me, "You have to fill it up before the water will flow."

Jesus recognized this principle when He offered a drink to the woman at the well (John 4:14), and when He gave the invitation on the last day of the feast that if anyone were thirsty, he should come to Him and drink. By this, Jesus meant the Spirit, Whom those who believed in Him were later to receive.

Jesus was saying that they first needed the primer to start the water flowing within them. This primer is the Holy Spirit.

Now, electricity is available in the remote rural areas, and no-one uses pumps that have to be primed anymore. Yet, I learned a valuable lesson that day long ago. We must have the spiritual water within before it can flow outwardly. Our cup has to be full and spilling over into the saucer before we can effectively share with others. The philosophy of the half-full, half-empty cup may be symbolic of some truths; for spiritual sharing, though, we need to fill the cup and let it overflow so that we can share with others.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for Your Spirit, Who satisfies our thirst. Keep our cups running over, so we can share with others. Amen.

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