The Offer

The Christian life does not begin with a list of do's-and-dont's. It does not begin with tabs on morality or even a social agenda for bringing positive change in our world. Christianity does not begin with sin. It never has.

What Jesus comes to offer is life. It is life welling up from the deepest places within us, from the core of who we are. And so the the Christian life begins, simply, with thirst. John Piper has said that "the awakening of an irresistible thirst for Christ, the pursuit of joy in God, is not only innocent, it is essential. The birth of that pursuit of joy is the birth of the Christian life."

What we are offered, then, through Jesus, is to come home. "A home," writes Eugene Peterson, "ordered by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

To our hearts' deepest desires Jesus speaks when he gives the offer, "Come to me if you are thirsty..."

And so, the question begs to be asked, a question that Jesus over the centuries has asked again and again to his would-be disciples, a question that takes a lifetime of deep-hearted journey and battle to answer, "What is it you want?"