Never Thirst Again

Freedom From a Scarcity Mentality

To this day, every time I see the needle on my fuel gauge dip past a quarter tank, I hear my father’s voice reminding me to fill up. A concerned parent, desiring safety for his teenage daughter, he instilled in me a sense of urgency and duty to keep my tank full so I would never be hindered on my journey.

Keeping your tank full has become a modern mantra for life with sentiments like, “Fill up so you can pour out,” “That filled my cup,” “My tank is empty,” and “I need to recharge,” common in our everyday conversations. 

While self-care is of great importance for a healthy life, it covertly became an idol in my life. Focused on monitoring the state of my personal tank; worry about being enough, having enough, and making sure I’m full so I can pour out began to consume my thoughts. I found myself living from a scarcity mentality, constantly needing to “fill my tank'' through pampering, rest, reading, shopping, exercise, relationships, etc., to function as a “whole person”. Under the guise of “self-care” being “full” became something I could never obtain. 

The Lord warned of this behavior proclaiming through the prophet Jeremiah, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns (water tanks), broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Jeremiah 2:13 (NIV)

I have dug many cisterns believing they would sustain and supply me. Holding tanks of earthly satisfactions hoarded and held tightly, reserved so I would never be found lacking or need to rely on another. Cracked and full of leaks, maintaining these wells kept me distracted from the “spring of living water,” eternally flowing, freely given every moment of every day. 

Our Heavenly Father offers all who are thirsty, who long to be filled, to stop digging lifeless cisterns. His voice beckons us to come to the living waters (Isaiah 55:1), connect and be rooted to eternal streams (Psalm 1:3) that never run dry. 

True refreshment. This is what I longed for yet could not seem to hold on to. 

In John 4:14, Jesus promised, “whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (NIV)

Everlasting nourishment, given every moment of every day cannot be contained, stored or hoarded. Far greater than the cups, tanks, or reservoirs we obsess over, Jesus offers rivers of life freely flowing; springs of water gushing with refreshment.

In constant connection with the Father, through belief in the Son and by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us we no longer live in scarcity. We live in abundance. 

Now when I feel depleted, I hear Jesus’ calling to me, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” John 7:37b-38 (NIV)  

Switching my mental picture from a finite tank to an ever-flowing river, I no longer feel the pressure to remain “full” in my own strength. Free from digging and storing, time in His Word has become a joyful daily connection allowing me to serve my family and community from an overflow rather than a withdrawal.

Are you thirsty? 

Are you digging and storing, constantly feeling depleted and scrambling for relief?

Leave your scarcity mentality behind. Jesus offers more. Believe in Him. Trust in the promised abundance of living waters. Connect to the source and never thirst again.

Heavenly Father, thank you for supplying all I need, every moment of every day. May I live freely in abundance connected to the streams of living water only you provide. In Jesus’ Name Amen