My addiction to Coca-cola began when I was a child. My father was stationed in Taiwan and our choices of beverages were limited. There was no fresh milk and I refused to drink powdered or canned (insert gagging reflex). Our water had to be boiled before we could drink it, so that made koolaid, tea, and drinking water an inconvenience for an eleven-year-old. My mother bought soda pop by the case. (That was back in the days when that was an unusual thing). I fell in love with Coke, and drank lots of it. (Although the lack of calcium and vitamin D caught up to us – Between us, I think my three siblings and I ordered fifteen glasses of milk at our first meal back in the States!)
We settled in rural Michigan and there we had well water. Hard as a rock and about as tasty. You could see the minerals floating in the water. We hauled our drinking water from town in jugs and containers (‘bottled water’ before it became popular). Before hauling and boiling water I used to drink it straight from the tap – but it was chlorinated and while I learned to drink it because it tasted ‘normal’ to me, after I had other water I no longer liked it.
There are two places I’ve been in this world that I’ve actually enjoyed drinking the water. One was Nebraska (oh, the tap water there! It makes everything taste better.) and on top of a mountain in Switzerland. I was about four years old, but I can still taste that clear, sweet, cold, delicious water. It poured into a hollowed out log and when you first looked at it, it appeared empty because it was so crystal clear. I’ve never had anything like it since.
Here’s the thing about water. It actually quenches your thirst. Aside from water with impurities, the good water is refreshing and satisfies our bodies, giving us what we need. Coke (which I still love) is another story. It tastes good, and perhaps for the moment is satisfying, but it increases thirst and desire for more. My own philosophy is that it’s the sugar content because most sweetened drinks do the same thing, but pop (or soda – or as they say in the south for any carbonated beverage regardless of the flavor – ‘coke’) just makes you want more.
I guess that answers why it’s so hard for me to drink the water I need. The taste of Coke on my tongue (and the memory of it) makes me want more. But if I would discipline myself to drink water I would not only be healthier, I’d be more satisfied!
The world and all its pleasures are like that. Not everything that’s out there is necessarily bad for you, but James 4:4 tells us that whoever wants to be friends with the world makes himself an enemy of God. Let’s face it, the more I drink Coke, the more I want it. That’s my flesh. The more I am in the world, spend time with it, drink in its pleasures, the more I become like the world and less like God.
Every illustration has its limitations, but when I think of pure, refreshing water I think of the Living Water God offers us in John 4. Jesus said if we drink it we would never thirst again. Only a relationship with God’s Son truly satisfies. I can be lured by the world’s dazzle and lights – by the sugar and fizz of Coke – but it leaves me unsatisfied and wanting more every time I drink it. What I don’t let myself realize is that it’s destructive, not restorative. Water gives life – Jesus offers us Eternal Life. Why do we grasp for the temporary when the infinite grace, mercy, and love of Christ is being offered to us?
All for Him
Missy