The restless longing you feel for holiness is not a flaw, nor is it a burden you are meant to carry in your own strength. That hunger and thirst is, in truth, a God-given drive to be satisfied with Christ Himself. The gospel does not call you to manage your desires through effort or willpower, but to come to the One who alone can satisfy the soul. When Christ satisfies you, He gives you rest—real, covenantal rest that ends the exhausting cycle of spiritual striving.
Rest: The End of Spiritual Tension
Scripture is unambiguous: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
This rest is not a temporary pause or a mere emotional comfort. It is deliverance from the relentless tension between your desire for holiness and the competing desires that war within you. The only way this conflict is resolved is by being satisfied with Christ. Anything less leaves you trapped in a cycle of frustration and defeat, always striving but never arriving. Christ’s rest is not a suggestion—it is the only solution God offers to the soul’s unrest.
Christ: The Only Food and Drink That Satisfies
The Lord does not leave us to starve spiritually. In the Gospel of John, Christ presents Himself as the true food and drink: “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:13-14)
To “eat and drink” of Christ is not a mystical exercise or a call to deeper introspection. It is to come to Him, to believe, and to receive what He alone supplies. When He satisfies you, the allure of sin is subdued—not by your suppression, but because your soul has found something infinitely better. The cravings of the flesh lose their power when Christ fills the void. Holiness is not achieved by human resolve; it is the inevitable result of being filled with Him.
Rivers of Living Water: The Overflow of His Life
Christ does not offer a meager sip to the thirsty. He promises abundance: “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38)
This is not poetic exaggeration. It is the reality of the Spirit of the glorified Christ dwelling in you, producing rivers of living water—spiritual abundance, not spiritual scarcity. The Christian life is not sustained by your effort to maintain it, but by the continual inflow and overflow of Christ as your satisfaction.
What Is Lost If You Miss This?
If you reject this truth—if you attempt to resolve your hunger for holiness by any means other than Christ’s satisfaction—you forfeit rest. You remain under the tyranny of inner conflict, forever laboring but never entering into peace. Worse, you undermine the very foundation of justification and sonship. To seek satisfaction outside of Christ is to return to law, to performance, to the old covenant of striving. You cannot inherit as a son while living as a slave. The finished work of Christ is not an accessory to your spiritual life; it is the only ground upon which you stand. To compromise here is to lose the reality of sanctification and to make the gospel of none effect.
The Only Invitation: Come, Eat, and Drink
The invitation is not to fix yourself, to suppress your desires, or to labor for what Christ freely gives. The invitation is to come to Him, to eat and drink, and to be satisfied. Sanctification is not a project you complete; it is the fruit of Christ’s sufficiency in you. If you are thirsty, you are qualified. If you are hungry, you are invited. The rest, the satisfaction, the subduing of sinful desires, the rivers of living water—all are found only in Him.
If you would see this more clearly, I urge you to read Christ as Satisfaction. There you will find the truth that the Christian life is not about your sufficiency, but about Christ’s—received, enjoyed, and overflowing in you. Anything less is not Christianity, but a return to bondage. Come to Him. Eat and drink. Be satisfied, and rest.
