Living Water

"Is anyone thirsty?

Come and drink - even if you have no money!
Come take your choice of wine or milk - it's all free!
Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength?
Why pay for food that does you no good?
Listen to me, and you will eat what is good.
You will enjoy the finest food.
Come to me with your ears wide open.
Listen, and you will find life."
Isaiah 55:1-3

Jesus never missed an opportunity.
Jesus broke all the rules.

In John chapter 4 we find Him talking to a Samaritan woman. Not only was she a Samaritan, but she was obviously an outcast from her community. Here she was at the well in the middle of the day when most women came in the morning or evening. But she wanted to avoid the other women...because she had a past. But Jesus asks her for a drink. "You are a Jew," she says, "and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?"

Jesus replies, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me and I would give you living water."... "Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life."

"Please, sir" the woman said, "give me this water! Then I'll never be thirsty again, and I won't have to come here to get water."
We are always looking for ways to satisfy our physical needs. We work for the things we think we need and miss what is really important. We spend all our time and energy and end up thirsty again!

The Samaritan woman didn't get it. Then Jesus told her that he knew all her secret sins. She was amazed and probably ashamed. But we are told that she left her water jar there and ran into town to tell the people that she found the Christ! She had tasted the living water!

“For my people have done two evil things:
They have abandoned me—
the fountain of living water.
And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns
that can hold no water at all!"
Jeremiah 2:13

Everyone has a past. We are all drinking from broken cisterns trying hard to keep them filled on our own efforts. Most people don't think they are good enough for God's love. But God wants us to stop trying to satisfy ourselves and to allow Him to fill us with streams of living water!

As Christians we have a mission - to share this gospel with people. Everyone is a person - but sometimes we only see them as numbers. Jesus never missed an opportunity but we allow them to pass us by everyday!

You need to ask yourself a question: "If you are around thirsty people every day and they aren't asking for a drink, do they even realize streams are flowing from you?"

Water gives life! God wants to pour his Spirit out on you until streams of living water flow freely from you, refreshing you and giving you life! Stop trying to do it on your own and accept the free gift God wants to give you! Drink in deep! And never be thirsty again.

Be blessed,
Steve

Temptation

We all taste the apple.

The juicy, sweet flesh promises fulfillment and satisfaction. We eat and enjoy and lose sight of what it really is. We look at the half-eaten fruit and decide we don’t want it after all so we throw it away, watching as it rolls through the dirt. But we can’t get our mind off of it. Eventually we go in search of it crawling through the garbage until we once again claim our prize – now covered with muck and slime. But that does not deter us. We remember the juicy flesh underneath so we bite it once again, savoring the bliss even through the filthiness.

Would you taste my apple? What if I offered you $20 to bite the partially-eaten rottenness that I have licked all over? Not enough you say? What if I offered you $30 or $40? Are you thinking one bite might not be too bad? What if I rub the crud-covered fruit in my sweaty armpit? No way, you think! I won’t eat that, it’s disgusting!

But we all have a price.

What if I offered to pay off your car? Would you eat it now? What if I offered to pay off your mortgage? Would it be worth it? You hypocrite! You are no different than I am! You have your price and you have your fruit of temptation that you secretly eat and that seductively pulls you into oblivion. Satan is extremely patient, just as patient as God. He waits until the right time, offering your price and you will devour the fruit no matter what impurity it contains.

We masturbate, lust, drool over pornography, seek money, power, popularity, sex - whatever that fruit is we desire the delight and gratification it brings. And we are all one decision away from that bite. I am only one step away from giving in to that temptation.

Yes, we all have a price. We were bought with a price greater than any of us could ever pay. God paid the life of His only Son so we would not be controlled by Satan’s temptation any longer. Through Christ’s shed blood we have the power to throw the fruit far away from us, never to be sought after again.

We can help each other to stay strong. Standing together we can hold each other up. Linking arms we become an impenetrable line of strength powered by God’s Holy Spirit. I need you to pray for me and support me in my moment of temptation. We need to have each other’s back, watching for the enemy’s attack. We do not need to live in bondage to our sin any longer! Jesus paid the ultimate price for our freedom. Let’s not throw that sacrifice back in His face by ignoring its power.

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.” Galatians 5:24 – 6:3

Be blessed,

Steve