Life is wonderful, crazy and messy all at once. To portray it as anything else is just fooling ourselves and everyone around us. Hope can be found somewhere at the center of everything we live through each day. That is, if Jesus happens to be found there as well.
Take my life, for instance. No, I am not going to venture into the More Than You Ever Wanted to Know realm but I am going to tell you good choices were not my strong suit. I was one of the “girls just wanna have fun”. I made many decisions that were not only unhealthy but down right dangerous.
So, how did this girl who was self-centered, undisciplined and reckless to faithfully following Jesus in the midst of all the insanity of this world? The short version–I took a large drink of the Word.
I went for years experiencing the Bible only on the outside, A little splash now and then was all I was getting. Not even quite enough to get wet and none ever made it to the inside, Soon after I left church each Sunday, I would be dry again. No problem except I didn’t know how dehydrated I was.
In John 4, there is a story of Jesus meeting a woman who, like me, was thirsty. She had come to the well in her town to quench her thirst only to find the water she was drinking was not going to provide any lasting goodness in her life. She would soon find herself just as parched as before. In verses 13 and 14 Jesus gives her some advice–
Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again.
But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again — ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.
This beautiful idea of a “well of water springing up within us for eternal life” is something to gulp down. Drinking from the water Jesus gives creates a life that is real and genuine. One that is active and strong. It’s influence cannot be contained as it flows out to others. Add the lasting forever part and that’s a pretty sweet deal. All from taking in what Jesus has to offer.
So, what happened to this woman in the story who dared take a drink? In addition to her own life being changed, many people in her village came to know Jesus and eternal life as she shared her story with them. Your story will have the same result. I can say that from experience. Just take a good long drink of Living Water. Can I get you a cup?
… And the one who is thirsty should come.
Whoever desires should take the living water as a gift.
Revelation 22:17
- During the time the New Testament was being written if a town was without a synagogue, people gathered near the river to worship. Rivers were seen as living water and were often used as places of prayer. Their constant movement symbolized purity and constant renewal. This place on the Zygaktes River in Greece is where the first European church was born. Living Water at work.
A woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was spoken by Paul. After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.” Acts 16:13-15