“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.

Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live.” — Isaiah 55:1–3

For the past 42 years, I have been following Christ, loving Him, and serving Him. Now, at the age of 71, I look back on this long journey. The hunger and thirst within me to know Christ more have not died down; they are still burning.

When a good spiritual book comes into my hands, or even catches my eye, I find it difficult to do anything else without reading it. “Could there be something here about Christ that I have never known before? Will the Lord show me a truth I have never seen before?” That longing is always within me. Sometimes, once I begin reading a book, I put other things aside until I have finished it.

In the same way, when someone comes to me with a genuine desire to know Christ, I have never grown tired of talking with that person for hours. No matter how far away they may be, I have never hesitated to go and meet them. If something the Lord has given me could be of help to them, spending my time and giving up my convenience for their sake has never felt like a burden.

But it is here that I now realize I had a blind spot.

I expected others to have the same hunger and thirst that I had.

My Expectation

At our Sunday gatherings, I listened to Brother Milton’s messages, transcribed them, typed them, made copies, and distributed them to many people. This work continued for many years. I expected that they would read them, feed on the truths in them, and through them come to know Christ more.

Later, we printed these messages as a book and distributed copies to many people. I also loaded Brother Milton’s messages onto pen drives and shared them with many. About a year ago, we printed another book containing Brother Milton’s messages. I received no response from anyone concerning these.

More recently, I sent one or two chapters from a book we are currently writing to a few people. Some did not read them immediately; some read them several weeks later; and even from some who read them, there was no response. Then, after several weeks, a few asked me, “Please send the next chapter.”

We do not write, speak, or send these things because we want someone to say, “You have written this well,” “This is wonderful,” or “This is a good message.” I was looking for something else.

Even when a tiny grain of sand falls into water, ripples spread around it. In the same way, I expected that when a truth concerning Christ touched a person’s heart, it would cause some movement within. Perhaps he would want to know more about it. Perhaps he would ask a question, want to talk about it, or perhaps that truth would draw him closer to the Lord.

My expectation was very simple: when a hungry person finds food, he eats; when a thirsty person finds water, he drinks.

But there was something I had failed to understand. Without realizing it, I had made the measure of my own hunger and thirst the standard by which I measured the hunger and thirst of others.

Because I immediately read a good spiritual book when I find one, I expected others to do the same. Because a truth concerning Christ stirs my heart, I expected it to stir the hearts of others in the same way. Because I long to know Christ more, I expected the same longing to be in others.

It was that expectation that disappointed me.

I Cannot Create Hunger or Thirst

Through those disappointments, I learned an important lesson: I cannot create spiritual hunger or thirst in anyone.

I can give food; I cannot give hunger. I can point someone to water; I cannot create thirst. I can speak about Christ, write about Him, give books, and share messages. But I cannot create within another person a longing to know Christ.

The Lord Jesus said:

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” — John 7:37

I now see these words in a different light. The Lord calls the one who thirsts: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me.” The thirsty person comes. He seeks water. When he finds it, he drinks.

The same invitation appears in the final chapter of the Bible:

“Let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” — Revelation 22:17

We see the same invitation in Isaiah:

“Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.”

There is something here that touches me deeply. Water does not go searching for the thirsty person; the thirsty person goes searching for water.

Then what is my responsibility?

It is my responsibility to speak Christ. It is my responsibility to proclaim the gospel. It is my responsibility to share with others the truth the Lord has given me. But it would be wrong for me to think that by speaking, writing, and repeatedly reminding someone, I can create spiritual hunger and thirst within that person. We may plant the seed; we may water it; but it is God who gives the growth.

So I have not stopped proclaiming. I have not stopped sharing. But I have stopped trying to produce within another person the response that must arise within that person.

When someone who is hungry comes to me, and I have food, I should give it to him. When someone who is thirsty comes to me, and I have water, I should share it with him. When someone comes with a deep longing to know Christ, I should always be ready to spend my time and give up my convenience for that person.

My work is not to create hunger; my work is to feed the hungry.

My work is not to create thirst; my work is to give water to the thirsty.

What Am I Hungry For?

“Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat.” — Isaiah 55:1

God gave the Israelites manna from heaven. The psalmist calls it “the grain of heaven” and “angels’ food” (Psalm 78:24–25). Yet there came a time when the Israelites despised that very food as “worthless bread” (Numbers 21:5). They longed for the fish, cucumbers, onions, and garlic they had eaten in Egypt (Numbers 11:5–6).

It was not that they had no food. Food was coming down from heaven, but their appetite was for something else.

As I read this, I ask myself: Is it enough merely to be hungry? What am I hungry for? Is it enough merely to be thirsty? What am I thirsty for?

I may prefer the food of earth to the manna of heaven. I may desire what pleases my taste more than what God calls “good.” The “pearls” He gives may look like pebbles to me. I may regard as worthless what He considers precious. I may be wandering in search of food that satisfies my own desires.

That is why Isaiah’s question pierces me:

“Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?” — Isaiah 55:2

What am I spending my time on? What am I spending my resources on? What captures my attention? What am I running after? What do I ache for when I cannot have it?

My answers to these questions reveal to me where my true hunger and thirst really lie.

Am I hungry for the good and satisfying food God gives? Am I feeding on what He gives, living by it, and growing through it? Or have I come to the place where I say, “I need nothing”? If so, I am in danger of losing my spiritual hunger and thirst.

So before I ask others, “Why are you not hungry?” I want to ask myself:

Am I hungry?
Am I thirsty?
What am I hungry for?
What am I thirsty for?

A Pearl to Me; a Pebble to Another

What we write and the messages we share are pearls to me. I am not saying that they are without flaws, nor am I saying that what we write and speak represents the highest truth. But some of the things we have received through seeking Christ, searching His Word, and walking with Him over many years are precious to me. That is why I want to share them with others.

But what appears to be a pearl to me may look like a pebble to someone else.

I no longer resist that reality. I do not try to convince anyone, “This is a pearl; you must understand its value.”

Perhaps they already have the food they need and enough of it. Perhaps they simply do not like the taste of this food. Or perhaps they are not hungry at this particular moment.

Someone may not read what I share; or, after reading it, may not find it interesting. I do not need to keep urging them or repeatedly sending reminders. I have shared what I had to share. What it does within that person after that is not something I can determine.

There need be no anger in this, nor any desire to punish. It is not an attitude that says, “You did not value what I gave you, so I will never give you anything again.”

What I am learning is very simple: when food that has been given remains uneaten, there is no need to keep piling more and more food in the same place.

If one day hunger arises within that person and he begins to seek, I will be ready to give. If one day he becomes thirsty and comes, I will be ready to share what I have. No matter how much time it takes or how far I have to travel, it will not be a burden to me.

This is what I am learning now: I have not stopped giving; I have stopped forcing. Where I see hunger, I want to give food freely. Where I see thirst, I want to share water freely. But when I realize that someone does not want what I am offering, I stop repeatedly giving in an attempt to create hunger within that person.

It is not my responsibility to create hunger. It is not my responsibility to create thirst. Nor is it my responsibility to measure another person’s hunger by my own. But wherever I see hunger and thirst, it is my responsibility to freely give what the Lord has given me.

I am also freeing myself from the expectation that everyone must regard as a pearl what I regard as a pearl.

My Hunger and My Thirst

The lesson I have learned through this long journey is not to measure the hunger and thirst of others. It is to guard my own hunger and thirst.

Instead of looking at others and asking, “Why has he not read it? Why is this person not interested? Why does this person not have a longing to know Christ more?” I need to look at myself.

Is the hunger I had when I came to know Christ 42 years ago still alive in me today? Do I still long to know Him more? Do I still yearn to see more of the glory of Christ that I have not yet seen? When I read His Word, do I still come with the expectation, “Lord, show me something about Yourself today that I have never known before”?

At the age of 71, this is what I ask of the Lord: Lord, instead of measuring the hunger of others, help me guard my own hunger. Instead of examining the thirst of others, keep my own thirst from running dry.

May I never become satisfied with the thought that I already know Christ. May the hunger and thirst to know Him more, to see Him more, and to experience Him more continue to burn within me, unquenched, until my last breath.

“Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live.” — Isaiah 55:3

Lord, preserve my hunger and my thirst.