In the last devotional of this series we discovered that among the four groups of those receiving God's message, only one group accepted the message fully and let the seeds germinate in their lives. This is the group will we focus on today:

"Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop - thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown." (Mark 4:20 NIV)

While planning our trip to Europe, we wondered how we would be able to find potable water. After all, one cannot live on fresh air and exploring alone!

We needn't have worried. Once we arrived in Switzerland, Austria and even in Germany, we discovered that delicious drinkable water was available everywhere, for free. Fresh, ice-cold spring water from nearby Alpine and non-alpine mountains flowed from fountains on nearly ever street corner.

We had brought our stainless steel water bottles with us, and we simply filled them up in the evenings so that we would have plenty of fresh water the following day for whenever an inkling of thirst hit us.

The best time to drink the water, naturally, was just after the bottles had been filled. It was still spring-fresh at this point. Very cool and invigorating! In fact it tasted so good that my tendency was to drink almost a whole bottle on the spot! Of course it would then splash its way around my stomach for the next hour, but boy was it ever refreshing! As the day went along however, the water warmed up. It was still thirst-quenching, but the invigorating coolness was gone.

The most amazing fact of all, however, was that this delicious water was abundantly available free of charge! And to make it even more inviting, the fountains that it flowed from were generally beautifully decorated, reflecting not only the local culture but local history as well. Our stainless-steel drinking fountains, pumping forth their chlorinated water all over America, don't even hold a candle to these beautiful creations that gushed forth such delicious wetness.

There was only one little problem with these abundant fountains. We had to stop whatever we were doing each day so that we could refill our water bottles. This reminds me of one other fountain, one unlike any we found in the alps. One that pumps forth everlasting water!

"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14 NIV)

Jesus' offer is too good to be true, and boy, how refreshing and invigorating it is when you take it into your heart. Moreover it doesn't last for just a few seconds, or even for a mere few minutes. It lasts for eternity!

And once we've tasted Jesus by accepting Him fully as Lord and Savior, then just like the tree that receives abundant water, we too, will produce a crop out of this world! All because of Jesus!

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." (John 15:4 NIV)

Gone is the bad temper. Gone are the addictions. Gone are our selfish attributes! Instead, we are transformed little by little into forgiving and loving children of God, children who realize that no one is perfect and that everyone needs to be treated with patience and tolerance. Our egotistical tendencies become replaced bit by bit with a love of divine origin, a love willing to sacrifice self for the good of others.

But all of this is only possible if we willingly accept the "Seed"-God's Word-and allow it to germinate in our hearts. Only then can we expect "a crop - thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."

Thirsty my friend? Why don't you come and drink from the living water? No need to die from thirst!

Rob Chaffart