Well Well Well
September 21, 2015
John 4:14 ". . . 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 story of Jesus and the woman at the well is so famous it barely needs recounted. We all get it. Jesus met a woman out in public. He exposed her questionable lifestyle, offered her living water, she believed He was the messiah, and she went and told the whole city. Seldom do we think the story applies to us because none of us have the same awkward life she lived. I doubt many of you have had five spouses and are in a living arrangement with some you're not married to. Jesus didn't discuss the woman's sin, though, and He didn't tell her to "go and sin no more," like He did the woman caught in adultery. The point Jesus was trying to get across to the woman at the well was that her life was in search of something to satisfy her, yet she was never satisfied.
The woman had five failed marriages, so apparently she was jumping from unsatisfaction to unsatisfaction, in search of something to fill her up. This is why Jesus told her that He could offer her living water, so she would never thirst again. Any sin the woman faced was dwarfed in comparison to the reason WHY she wasn't living a righteous lifestyle. She was in search of something that would satisfy her. Jesus basically told her that nothing she did would ever satisfy the hunger and thirst inside. She could go on the way she was living and always feel like there was something more, that maybe if she tried something new that this time would be different, this time she would feel whole and satisfied and complete. Well, Jesus poked holes in that theory for her. He knew she wanted a satisfaction for her thirst. He didn't judge her because of her lifestyle; He offered her a solution to what would stop her from making such bad decisions in searching for satisfaction. He offered her something that would be enough for once in her life. She wouldn't have to keep jumping from unsatisfaction to unsatisfaction. He offered her the fulfillment she was looking for.
But what if you are a Christian, you believe in Jesus as your Savior, but still feel unsatisfied? If you are a believer and feel like you are still thirsty, then maybe you are missing something. When Jesus talked about the living water He had to offer the woman at the well, the satisfaction that comes from Salvation, He was saying she had to drink from the cup to receive the living water. He had the living water, but she couldn't have it unless She took it from Him and drank from it. No, it wasn't actually magic water, but a metaphor of taking the gift of satisfaction FROM Jesus. The metaphor of salvation being consumed from a cup started in Psalm 116, when the psalmist said there was a cup filled with salvation, from which he drank and then lifted up the empty cup to Heaven to show the Lord that what was in the cup had been completely consumed.
If you are a Christian, and still feel unsatisfied, I would ask if you've fully consumed what was in that cup. You can't sip from it, and just taste it; you must fully drink it, emptying the cup. Unless you are satisfying your wants and needs from that cup, with a deep and committed relationship with the Heavenly Father, then you will be left thirsty. You will again turn to the things of this world to make you feel satisfied but will always end up feeling empty. If your relationship with the Lord isn't enough to satisfy you inside, then you haven't fully experienced the wholeness of a full relationship with Him. Maybe you've neglected your relationship and instead of coming back to Him for satisfaction you are attempting to fill it with things from this world. If you do, you will be setting yourself on a path, the same exact path of the woman who was at the well. That path will end in failed satisfaction which creates a bigger hole, more empty each time.
Notice the full words in they way Jesus described what was in His cup. He said you would drink it and it would become a spring of water in you, welling up.....When was the last time you had a refreshing spring in you, welling up?
Don't take my word for it; look it up: Psalm 116, John 4
The story of Jesus and the woman at the well is so famous it barely needs recounted. We all get it. Jesus met a woman out in public. He exposed her questionable lifestyle, offered her living water, she believed He was the messiah, and she went and told the whole city. Seldom do we think the story applies to us because none of us have the same awkward life she lived. I doubt many of you have had five spouses and are in a living arrangement with some you're not married to. Jesus didn't discuss the woman's sin, though, and He didn't tell her to "go and sin no more," like He did the woman caught in adultery. The point Jesus was trying to get across to the woman at the well was that her life was in search of something to satisfy her, yet she was never satisfied.
The woman had five failed marriages, so apparently she was jumping from unsatisfaction to unsatisfaction, in search of something to fill her up. This is why Jesus told her that He could offer her living water, so she would never thirst again. Any sin the woman faced was dwarfed in comparison to the reason WHY she wasn't living a righteous lifestyle. She was in search of something that would satisfy her. Jesus basically told her that nothing she did would ever satisfy the hunger and thirst inside. She could go on the way she was living and always feel like there was something more, that maybe if she tried something new that this time would be different, this time she would feel whole and satisfied and complete. Well, Jesus poked holes in that theory for her. He knew she wanted a satisfaction for her thirst. He didn't judge her because of her lifestyle; He offered her a solution to what would stop her from making such bad decisions in searching for satisfaction. He offered her something that would be enough for once in her life. She wouldn't have to keep jumping from unsatisfaction to unsatisfaction. He offered her the fulfillment she was looking for.
But what if you are a Christian, you believe in Jesus as your Savior, but still feel unsatisfied? If you are a believer and feel like you are still thirsty, then maybe you are missing something. When Jesus talked about the living water He had to offer the woman at the well, the satisfaction that comes from Salvation, He was saying she had to drink from the cup to receive the living water. He had the living water, but she couldn't have it unless She took it from Him and drank from it. No, it wasn't actually magic water, but a metaphor of taking the gift of satisfaction FROM Jesus. The metaphor of salvation being consumed from a cup started in Psalm 116, when the psalmist said there was a cup filled with salvation, from which he drank and then lifted up the empty cup to Heaven to show the Lord that what was in the cup had been completely consumed.
If you are a Christian, and still feel unsatisfied, I would ask if you've fully consumed what was in that cup. You can't sip from it, and just taste it; you must fully drink it, emptying the cup. Unless you are satisfying your wants and needs from that cup, with a deep and committed relationship with the Heavenly Father, then you will be left thirsty. You will again turn to the things of this world to make you feel satisfied but will always end up feeling empty. If your relationship with the Lord isn't enough to satisfy you inside, then you haven't fully experienced the wholeness of a full relationship with Him. Maybe you've neglected your relationship and instead of coming back to Him for satisfaction you are attempting to fill it with things from this world. If you do, you will be setting yourself on a path, the same exact path of the woman who was at the well. That path will end in failed satisfaction which creates a bigger hole, more empty each time.
Notice the full words in they way Jesus described what was in His cup. He said you would drink it and it would become a spring of water in you, welling up.....When was the last time you had a refreshing spring in you, welling up?
Don't take my word for it; look it up: Psalm 116, John 4
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