Deep in unfathomable mines of never-ending skill, he treasures us his bright designs, and works his sovereign will. ~William Cowper
People hang on his every word. He can speak French, in Russian. He enjoys inside jokes with complete strangers. Even his enemies list him as their emergency contact. Sharks have a week dedicated to HIM. He once had an awkward moment just to see how it feels.
He is the most interesting man in the world.
In case you’re wondering, I’m quoting beer commercials.
In TV and radio ads, actor Jonathan Goldsmith plays the daring, debonair mystery man described above.
Each segment closes with Goldsmith, surrounded by beautiful admirers, saluting us with the words,
Stay thirsty, my friends.
Here’s a sample if you haven’t seen these commercials, cleverly designed to leave us thirsty. Thirsty for adventure, thirsty for life. Thirsty to meet someone so brilliant, so at ease with himself that everyone else fades from view.
On a related note,
What do you picture when you think of Jesus? A flannel-board figure, a naive, disillusioned wonder-worker, or a white-robed vision smiling (or scowling) at you from the clouds? Or, worse, does he float in your mind as a composite of every well-coiffed, white-toothed celebrity speaker you’ve heard invoke his name?
Who could entrust the weighty matters of life to a caricature?
I open the New Testament and meet a Jesus impossible to ignore. Everywhere he goes, crowds gather. Outcasts and scholars alike are amazed and dumbfounded at his intelligence, wisdom and power. Or they are angry they can’t outfox him. No one is bored.
It was in Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy, one of the 15 Books That Found Me, I realized it. While wading with Willard through the entire New Testament to discern, “Who is Jesus and what does it mean to be his disciple,” the question occurred to me, “How can Jesus be Lord of my life if he is limited?”
He can’t. And he’s not.
Some Christians fear the educated “elite,” distrusting scientists and experts in every field. I wonder if it’s because they don’t believe Jesus is as comfortable in a physics lab or law library as he is at a hymn-sing.
Stay thirsty, my friends.
Stay thirsty enough to keep following after the one person in whom “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3) are found. Don’t settle for the limp imitation you may have embraced.
Have you considered the brilliance of Jesus?
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2 replies on “Stay Thirsty, My Friends”
Janet, I too was captured by Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy. I’ve always said that it was a trilogy between the covers. He needed a better editor (no extra charge for the rhyme). One of the best books to come out of evangelicalism. Ever.
I agree, Robert. An editor and better signage to direct the reader. I consult the book often.