Are you Thirsty for Pure Water?

Have you ever used a Brita water filter? Maybe you are a simple "drink it out of the faucet" person, or maybe you have a filtered water tap in your house.  But not too, too long ago, the concept of filtered water was new and Brita was the dominant force in the market.  It is nothing more than a large pitcher that had a filter in the top of it...It is a pretty simple process of how they work.Steps to Get Clean / Purified Water1. Pour non-filtered water into Brita pitcher2. Wait and watch water work through filter and gather in the pitcher3. Enjoy and/or share purified water4. Refill pitcher to create more filtered waterNow you may be thinking, "what does this have to do with anything?" or maybe you're thinking "I'm thirsty." If its the later, go get some water and come back to finish reading this.If its the first thought, I had a very similar thought when God said nothing more to me than "Brita water filter."  But when God says stuff like that I like to try and figure it out, so luckily I had some travel time to do just that.  So here is what God revealed to me.Lets go through this using the steps of the Brita water filter I mentioned above...1. Pour non-filtered water into Brita filterIn this scenario, lets consider ourselves the non-filtered, or "dirty" water. We as humans are inherintly not pure and in need of something / someone who can help.  Enter the Brita water filter (we can call it Jesus!).  God has given us the ability to be forgiven and purified by coming through His Son, Jesus.  But we have to want it, and have to make the personal decision.  Think about it, you can't get purified water if you don't actually put any water into the Brita filter.  The first step seems like its the most obvious, but sometimes its the hardest for us to do.Romans 3:23 - "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God"2. Wait and watch water work through filter and gather in the pitcherIf you've ever been thirsty and wanted a large glass of pure water and realized you needed to pour it in the Brita filter, you know that its not an immediate process.  It takes time to go through the filtration system.  How often do we want the outcome, and the purity that God promised us, yet we don't have the patience to wait for it, or fight for it?  Purity is not something that is an immediate solution, its a process, and if you are patient with that process, then what you will end up with at the end of the time with be a pure heart.Matthew 5:8 - "How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word."3. Enjoy and/or share purified waterThis is the fun part and the part that people enjoy (or at least it seems that way).  Drink the water!  Or share it with others.  the payoff or patience is that, now you have pure water to share or enjoy.  The analogy here is simple.  God didn't create you to be to yourself all the time.  in short...don't keep the good water to yourself!Mark 16:15 - "He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.'"4. Refill pitcher to create more filtered waterThis is not a one-time thing.  How do you get refilled each week?  Who/what re-energizes you?  Who is encouraging you?  Who are you learning from?  For many of you "church" may answer these questions.  You may not have an answer for any of these which I would love to talk to you about.  In short though it is very clear that even Jesus needed time along to "recharge."  Make it a point to carve out time each day and each week to get re-energized and "fill your cup" back up.  The goal each week should really be to get rid of (share) the water (Jesus) and fill yourself back up with more. Even Jesus needed to re-charge...make it a priority!Matthew 26:1:"Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.”So there you go, simply put, our lives can be looked at as the process to get pure water.  Jesus wants you to do a couple of things...Believe. Wait. Go. Repeat.