I woke up this morning with a question running over and over again in my mind…
What well are you drinking from?
During Sunday’s sermon, “Wired for Worship: Barriers to Worship”, we visited a familiar story in John 4, The Samaritan woman at the well. What a powerful story showcasing God’s great love and pursuit of “the one”! This woman had drunk long and hard from the well of wrong relationships. She was seeking love, acceptance, and purpose in all the wrong places. But then she met the One who, rather than walking around Samaria, which was accustomed for Jews to do, walked straight into her heart. Scripture said, “…he (Jesus) had to go through Samaria.” (Verse 4) Jesus was not running from the Pharisees. He was running to the Samaritan woman. He was on a mission to reveal himself to this woman he loved so much. He wanted to help her identify her barriers to true worship. They met at Jacob’s well in the heat of the day.
Jesus is pursuing us, as well. Where will he find you? What well will he find you drinking from? There are so many wells this world offers us… The glitzy, bedazzled well of materialism, the well of performance and perfection, and even those deep, dark wells nobody likes to admit that they dip their cup into… the well of busyness, the well of anxiety and fear… etc. I think our wells can be identified by what we spend the most time and energy on, or what we spend our money on. All of these worldly wells are full of empty promises and lies, fleeting satisfaction, and temporary fulfillment. I’m pretty sure I have drunk from them all.
The wells of the world will never satisfy. But Jesus invites all of us, just like He invited the Samaritan woman, to come and drink of the living water he offers. He’s willing to walk right into our dehydrated mess, and give us a fresh revelation of himself and who we are in him.
I recently had a similar encounter with Jesus. He wanted to reveal some barriers in my life that were preventing me from resting in him and receiving living water.
I started seeing a new physician this past February. I’ll never forget what he said to me the day we reviewed the plethora of lab results that had come in. The doctor looked in my eyes and said, “Physically speaking, you are pumping an empty well.”
You see the wells of busyness and false expectations had left me physically exhausted, weak, and empty, and spiritually, I was feeling kind of the same.
And Jesus met me right there.
I was reminded of the words the Lord spoke to Jeremiah, “My people have committed two sins: they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)
The things I had been relying on to satisfy me, bring me life and peace and give me purpose were not the right things. Jesus was inviting me, fresh and anew, to “Come to me and drink”, and he’s inviting you, too.
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:37-38
Spiritual dehydration is dangerous. And Jesus says, “Come to me and drink”. He is enough. He gives us all of himself and says, “Eat, drink, and be filled!”
And that’s what the Samaritan woman did. The little detail from the story that I love, is that she left her water jar when she went back to the town to tell the people about Jesus. She had tasted the living water, and suddenly she was no longer concerned about being able to draw water. Her thirst had been quenched!
May we, like her, leave our water jars behind as testimonies that the things we once relied on for satisfaction, fulfillment, and purpose cannot compare to what Jesus offers us!
You see, our lives when satisfied by Jesus, the living water, have profound effects on other people. As we drink from the Source of life, drink till we’re full, then what overflows out of our saturated souls is Jesus!
Receive Jesus’ invitation today… Come and get a drink of living water!
*Consider taking a moment to listen to this song by Casting Crowns entitled, The Well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKioQPEW4do&feature=youtu.be
Jenny Gallion
#MyPAG 