Is Your Life Parched, Dehydrated?
Wish You Could Quench Your Thirst, forever…
'Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. )
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” ' John 4:6-15
with our human bodies, even after we drink water from the tap, a bottle, or even a cooler, we will eventually want and need more. it is estimated that we cannot go without it, give or take, for 3 days. how awesome is it that our Lord and Savior offers us ‘living water’, one that lasts eternally and sustains us. what are you, me, we hungering and thirsting for - stuff, things, money, fame, glory, etc.? do know we can only be fully satisfied by the One who is the bread of life and living water; of course we have to receive it.
as pastor jay spoke today, part 4, on the beatitudes - blessed are those who hunger and thirst - i did love his story of the crepe that ayako loves so much. that as a child she loved them and would buy it with money she was given/earned. each time she got a raise in her allowance she’d get another topping; every time she had more money, she got an additional topping; until one day it was too much stuff and she got a tummy-ache and threw it up after eating it all. also jay spoke about his eating excursion to all-you-can-eat yakiniku - sounds good because you can do quite a bit of damage for a good price; problem is he ate until he couldn’t walk, likely breathe, and was lucky he never blew chunks. wouldn’t it be great if we could stop craving the things of this world and only want Jesus?
when our desires become misaligned with what The Word of God tells us, we will always long for things that take our attention, eyes, and hearts away from our Lord. this leads to us sinning, walking away from the truth, ultimately separating us from the one who saved.
for those of us who have tasted and seen the goodness of The Lord, how can we ever go back to the life that we once had that was empty and void, one that drove us to do things you aren’t proud of. instead of being lost in the world, we know we can turn to Jesus and receive His peace, His joy, His love - really all the things that we truly desire in life.
dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the spring of living water that is in me through and by your Son Jesus. teach us to desire you more and more and remove the wants of this world. pour out your Holy Spirit on us Lord to helps us do so. in your Precious and Wonderful Name we pray, amen!