“So that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…” – Acts 3:19
Rebekah and I recently wrapped up another wonderful week hosting our six and seven-year-old grandchildren. As usual, it was one more extremely full day featuring fun and play and work and learning. To be accurate, we finished this particular visit with a dramatic splash!
Our friends Trish and Dave gave us access to their swimming pool and (on an unreasonably hot day) there is little that is more fun than the constant noise, movement, silliness, laughter, relaxation and refreshing coolness of an hour or so in the water.
The experience makes me think about the biblical concept of ‘Times of Refreshing.’ Think about it. Is the way you interact with church—your experience of worship, of communion, of fellowship, of giving, of learning, of mission, of service—a time of refreshing? Do you engage faith and living as a follower of Jesus in a way that reminds you of being immersed in a pool full of clear, cool, relaxing and invigorating water?
Jesus describes the quality of life he offers as a buoyant fountain of refreshment, literally springing up: “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life,” (John 4:14).
When Jesus talked with the woman at the well he simply offered her a long, refreshing drink of living water. When Peter started preaching in Acts 3, he said that following Jesus is like experiencing the blessing of a deep refreshment.
In this contemporary world, fraught with confrontation, conflict, anger, bitterness, misunderstanding, prejudice, greed, avarice and more, I cannot recommend anything better or more effective or more healing than a deep immersion in Jesus. Jump in, dive in, even wade in slowly. However you come, just come.
This is our time of refreshing.
