A Thirsty World

John 4:13-14 (NIV)
Jesus answered, "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."

I find the account of Jesus and the woman at the well in the fourth chapter of John to be quite profound.

Jesus arrived at the Samaritan town of Sychar at midday and sat down at the well of Jacob as He was tired from the Journey.

As Jesus had both a divine and a human nature, it can be safely assumed that it was human nature that felt fatigued.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well where Jesus sat .
He asked her to give Him water to drink.

She then reminded Him of something He already knew; He was a Jew whereas she was a Samaritan.

She could have just as easily asked, "Don't you know that we are not supposed to have anything to do with each other?"

Jesus responded to her in verse ten that if she really knew who He was, she would have asked Him for living water.

The woman did not understand. In her culture, their were two kinds of water. There was stagnant, or dead water (like that found in pools) and there was water that moved freely, or living water, (like that found in rivers).

As there were no streams or rivers in the vicinity, she had to return to this well to draw the water that she needed to survive.

She simply reminded Jesus that He had no bucket and that the well was deep.
Jesus told her that those who drank water from this well would thirst again but those who drank of the water He provided would never thirst again.

She still did not understand as is evidenced by her response in John 4:15...
The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't go thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

Before we criticize this poor woman too much, we need to remind ourselves that we often do the same thing.

Jesus offers us so much that is spiritual and eternal and yet we often ask Him just to meet our immediate needs… those of the here and the now.

Jesus offers everyone living water and the hope of eternal life. He offers that which is living, yet so many choose merely surviving instead. He offers the eternal, yet so many choose the temporal.

I thought about this during my commute recently.

The part of central Texas in which I live has experienced explosive growth over the last few years.

Many areas that were once undeveloped are now teeming with houses and apartments.

Numerous water towers also dot the landscape in order to provide thirsty residents with their daily water requirements. Technically, these waters now trapped and are no longer "living" waters in that sense of the word.

People no longer have to draw water from wells. It is now just another convenience that is taken for granted.

Many also take the living water Jesus offers for granted as well.

In that regard, we live in a very thirsty world indeed.

He offers us a choice.

Will we choose living for the eternal, or merely surviving in desperate search of the temporal?


Blessings,
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeet.byethost3.com/ on Friday, July 2, 2010.
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I'll be back here on Friday, July 9, 2010.