February 28, 2018

Living Water Soothes, Heals

The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” – John 4:17-18

Have you ever wondered why this woman had so many husbands and was currently with a man who wasn’t her husband? Did you assume she was promiscuous? Did you blame her for her circumstances?

At a recent women’s conference, Bible teacher Lisa Harper said something really enlightening about this. She said that conservative theologians think perhaps the woman for infertile. That just makes so much sense.

In Biblical times, a man could divorce a woman for really no reason. If the man got tired of her, he could simply give her papers and send her on her way. It was an awful existence for women of that day. How were they supposed to survive without a husband to provide for their needs?

A man was esteemed by the sons he fathered. No sons? Well, that just wasn’t acceptable. Every family needed sons to carry on the family name and care for his elderly parents when the time came.

A woman who couldn’t have children was a worthless liability. That would have been me. Can you imagine the heartbreak of repeated rejections because of something she couldn’t help or control?

Then Jesus met her at the well and He offered to fill her up with living water. Jesus said He would take away the ache that barren arms felt. Jesus said He would welcome her no matter what her past. Jesus said He would make sure that she was never thirsty, never alone, again.

This woman knew rejection. She knew it from her husbands. She knew it as a Samaritan or mixed-breed. She knew it in a way that few people could understand. There was a reason why she was at the well when no one else was near. The sting of rejection makes us want to withdraw into ourselves.

Jesus met her where she was. He didn’t look down at her. He didn’t tell her to clean up her act and then she could enter into His Presence. Jesus welcomed her, taught her with kindness, and showed her a different way.

How different are so many Christians of our day? We don’t want to allow anyone tarnished into our midst. We lecture and wag our righteous fingers at people we see as fallen, dirty, not worthy of Jesus’ blood. People just like us.

Maybe that’s why we are so judgmental. We don’t want to see our ugly reflections looking back at us. Maybe if we surround ourselves with people just like us, we can forget the many mistakes that mark us as sinners.

This woman was so grateful, so overjoyed, so filled with love for Jesus. She rushed back to her town and told everyone about what this stranger, this Jesus, had done for her. How many people have you told about what Jesus has done for you?

Rejection hurts. It bruises our souls in the deepest, darkest places. Only Jesus can fill us up again. Reach. Take. Drink the living water. Feel its cool taste as it soothes the ache deep inside. Then offer a drink to those near you. Share the good news of salvation. There’s plenty for everyone – if they only knew.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Seeking God’s Path For Your Life

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?” -- John 4:11

I am overwhelmed. Totally. Completely. Just overwhelmed. My mind is scattered in a thousand places and I’m struggling to bring it all together and do what I’m supposed to do.

But am I supposed to do it? Isn’t Jesus supposed to step in with that living water and make it all easy? Or isn’t someone else supposed to step up and take over? Why me? And why now?

I am a person of ideas. Many of them I try to keep to myself because I simply can’t do it all. There aren’t enough hours in the day and there isn’t enough of me to go around. I’m sure some of you can relate to this.

That said, every now and then I get an idea that simply won’t go away. I know it’s from God because, let me repeat, it won’t go away. So forward I go with God’s idea and it blesses people. It does. Because it’s God’s idea. He saw a need, put it on my heart, and now an idea has become a blessing to many people. Just not a blessing to me.

I understand that doing good isn’t always supposed to be an immediate blessing to us. That’s not why we do good. We do good because God calls us to do good and because we’re supposed to love those around us. And I do. So following God means caring for others.

I tell myself this again and again. But the bitterness and unhappiness keeps rising up. Someone needs to do what I’m doing. Someone needs to help those who are hurting and in need. But does it have to be me? Surely someone who has fewer family obligations, doesn’t need to work, someone who isn’t already doing enough, should step up. Surely someone else could do the job better, with more kindness and compassion. Surely God didn’t mean for me to do this forever.

But no one is stepping up and I’m becoming more and more overwhelmed. How can one person coordinate the needs, and volunteers to meet those needs, all alone? I understand that I don’t have to do it alone. I’m supposed to do it in the Spirit, allowing God to carry me down this path.

My question then becomes this: What does that look like? How do I know if I’m even called to do this? I know God put the idea in my heart but did He really intend for me to do it all? Somehow I don’t think so. I’m just not sure where to go from here.

So I’m sitting down again today for some more of that living water. My hope and my prayer is that somehow, someway, in the Scriptures I read and the prayers that I offer up to God, that He’ll light my path so that I can truly see His will. I’m overwhelmed and I need Him more than I can say.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Rituals Mark Our Days And Moments

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” -- John 7:37

The chapter was on rituals and how important they are to all of us. Jesus was a Jewish man. We forget that sometimes as we try to Americanize Him in our minds. We lose sight of the festivals, the prayers, the rituals of the Jewish faith that were part of the daily life of Jesus.

Do you have any rituals in your life? Perhaps you find comfort in saying The Lord’s Prayer in church. Maybe your family gets together every Sunday for lunch. And what about special occasions? How do you celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving? What about birthdays and other special moments?

I suppose every family is different. My grandmother was a stickler for celebrating her birthday on her birthday. Not the Sunday before or the Saturday after. Not on a date that was convenient for everybody else. But on her birthday. Or not at all.

I find myself laughing about it sometimes now. Maybe she had the right idea. Children are born when they are born, whether it is convenient or not. And so it is with birthdays. They arrive when they arrive, whether it is convenient or not.

A friend during my Texas years came from a close family with three girls and doting parents. Her sisters were her best friends, her parents trusted advisors. She saw them frequently and talked almost daily with them, and this in the day before unlimited calling.

Each birthday brought a cake filled with colorful sprinkles. It was made from a mix but that didn’t matter. The cake was festive and celebration was everything. I searched everywhere for that cake mix but finally had to add sprinkles to another cake batter. It tasted fine and it looked festive.

She missed her family but we celebrated with her. A cake. Balloons. A song. The marking of another year of possibilities and laughter.

We had no birthday rituals in my family. Birthdays were just another day, albeit one with gifts attached. Nothing big. Just something to say they remembered. In the early years there was a cake and then that kind of ended too. I remember one cake during my college years and another in Texas, a gift from my co-workers. Funny how those cakes stand out in my memory.

Today is my birthday, a day I both dread and anticipate. Another year of challenges has finally ended and for that I am grateful. I think back on that day when I fell to my knees in agony and Jesus pulled me close. I was thirsty for love and acceptance and He gave me both. That was a day of new birth and fresh starts. A day of celebration. A moment of salvation when everything changed forever. That is a birthday I celebrate every day.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Living Water Fills Us Up

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? -- Psalm 42:1-2

There’s a beautiful song that uses words from this psalm. I sing it sometimes to myself as I walk, soothing my soul with a reminder that God truly is all that matters in this world.

We humans are filled with wants. I suppose that is a natural part of who we are as sinners. We always want what we don’t have. We’re not supposed to covet but we do anyway. We want the bigger house, the nicer car, the better job, the popularity prize. And when we get it, we want something else. It’s a never-ending cycle that refuses to fill us up inside.

Somehow we believe that if we just have enough stuff, the right stuff, we won’t feel so dead and empty inside. When will we ever realize that only God can fill that emptiness up so that it overflows with joy and contentment?

God is the source of all comfort. He is the source of all peace. When we turn to Him instead of things, we are filled with gratitude and joy. No. God isn’t a vending machine. Turning to Him with our checklist of wants doesn’t mean He’s going to give us our every desire. Remember that things don’t fill us up. What fills us up is a relationship with God.

It’s easy to confuse that wish list with having a relationship. Do we really think it’s possible to have a real relationship with someone when we only turn to Him when we want something? Or need something? Because when life goes sour and we’ve exhausted all other options, we always turn to God to fix things.

There have been times in my own life that I’ve wondered if bad times were God’s way of drawing me closer to Him. It’s just so easy to believe when things are going good that we are the author of our own destinies. It’s not true. We can do nothing without God. But it’s so easy to foolishly believe we can.

I’ve learned over the years to depend on God in ways I can’t begin to describe. Good times or bad. He is my confidant and biggest cheerleader. Many times He is my only cheerleader. But He has never let me down, never refused to listen and has always given me sound advice.

I find direction through prayer, listening and through His Word. He fills me up with living water. The more I drink, the more I want. I crave that relationship, that knowledge, that connection. My soul cries out to be filled with only what He can provide

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Jesus Offers Living Water

“But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this is a very deep well. Where would you get this living water?” -- John 4:11

How easy it is to doubt! Oh, we believe Jesus is our Lord and Savior. We’re just not so certain He can or will save us from our mess. Whatever that might be.

Doubt has got to be one of Satan’s most powerful weapons. We look around and we can’t see a way out. We can’t see how Jesus could possibly fix whatever is going on. We forget that He fed thousands with five loaves of bread and two fish.

This woman was a Samaritan, an outcast, someone Jews refused to associate with. She was amazed that this man, this rabbi, this Jesus would speak to her. And then He offered her living water. She didn’t understand. How could it be any better than the water Jacob left for his people?

Jesus explained and still she didn’t understand. How could He offer living water so that she would never be thirsty again? Aren’t we that way? We don’t understand how something can be so we doubt. We try to fix it on our own. We fall into despair. We fail to believe.

But Jesus knows things about us. He knew the Samaritan woman had had five husbands and lived with a man she wasn’t married to. She was amazed. Jesus knows all of our secrets, good and bad. He knows the deep desires of our hearts and the fears that rest within us. He understands.

What are you afraid of today? What are the secret desires of your heart? What do you think is impossible? What are you doubting Jesus for today?

Jesus told the Samaritan woman that He was the Messiah. She wanted to believe. She did believe. Sort of. She left her water jar and went back to the village to tell others of this man she’d just met. People streamed from the village to see this man who might be the Messiah.

Jesus looked out and saw the fields of people, ripe for harvest. People who hungered for living water, for a secure haven, for a promise of forever. People like you and me. We all hunger with a yearning only Jesus can fill. No possessions, no job, no people, can fill that empty spot deep inside. Those things are merely misguided attempts to fill ourselves with living water. But only Jesus can do that.

We doubt what we cannot see. We fear what we cannot understand. Our faith wavers when we look around and see no way out. Faith. Jesus offers us living water and still we hesitate. What are we waiting for? When will we finally believe, understand and trust?

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Meet the Lost Where They Are

Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” -- John 4:10

Have you ever wanted to share your faith with someone but really didn’t know what to say? Have you ever tried to tell someone about Jesus and what He means to you, but found yourself stumbling over your own words? Have you ever felt the Holy Spirit’s conviction as you watched a hopeless soul struggle but did nothing about it?

Well, join the crowd. All of us, if we’re completely honest, have faced that loss of words, that lack of action, that knowledge that we should do something or say something but we don’t know what or how. If we could stop holding ourselves back and meet people where they are, we’d understand better what God’s calling really means.

We’re so busy “knowing” stuff that we can’t be bothered with listening. Sharing your faith, your Jesus, your hope and salvation, starts with listening to the lost. Seriously. It means hearing what they say, not using their words as a moment when you can gather your own thoughts and launch more words at them.

Our Sunday school class has been studying how to share our faith with others. Last Sunday we discussed people and the needs we all have. Some folks thought it was boring and didn’t want to listen. They couldn’t understand why we needed to know that lack of food, shelter and sleep will keep anyone from hearing the message of Jesus.

Yet, it’s pretty basic stuff. In order for people to listen to us, we’ve got to listen to them. We’ve got to hear their desperation, their loneliness, their need to belong. Each and every one of us have a hole somewhere deep inside that only God can fill. Everyone has a button, if you will, that sparks an interest and the knowledge of needing more than they have.

And that’s the place where you share Jesus. That place of need, of desire, where questions and opportunity come together. It is meeting the lost where they are, rather than trying to drag them to the place where we sit on our lofty stages looking down on those not living to our standards.

We need only look to Jesus to see what we should do. Thing of Zacchaeus, who was an outcast because of his business activity. Jesus saw him in the tree and invited himself to stay at Zacchaeus’ house. Some thought Jesus was crazy to stay with a sinner. Others no doubt wondered what Jesus saw in the little man who had to climb a tree in order to see Jesus. But what happened? Zacchaeus repented and changed his ways, vowing to give half his wealth to the poor and, if he’d ever overcharged someone on their taxes, to refund them four times as much.

Or think about Peter. He was a fisherman and not looking for anything beyond a life with his boat and his family. Jesus offered to make him a fisherman of people and he left what he knew to follow a Savior to his death.

And, of course, there was the woman at the well. Jesus didn’t condemn her for having five husbands and living with a man she wasn’t married to. Instead, he offered her living water. Jesus changed her life and, no doubt, the lives of many others as she spread the news about this man she’d met at the well.

It’s just so easy -- and so hard -- to know what to say and do when we see ourselves as being better than the lost. We’re all God’s children and He loves each one of us just the same. So the next time you want to share Jesus with someone, get down from your perch. Meet them where they are, and the Holy Spirit will tell you exactly what to say.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Living Water Awaits

“But the water I give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

-- John 4:14

Sometimes life just seems overwhelming. Do you know what I mean? It’s not that anything is particularly wrong. It’s just that the demands of everyday tasks and needs seem to drain everything out of you.

I ran into a friend the other day. Bless her heart. She just looked so tired. I ached for her because I know that feeling. She has started back to work. She wanted this job. She longed for this job. She prayed for this job. She even likes this job. But working with three kids is a whole lot different than with two kids. The juggling routine is weighing her down. She takes care of everyone’s needs but her own. She’s just too tired to do that.

My situation is totally different. It involves elderly parents, earning a living and teaching. These are all things I choose to do. Mostly it’s fine. Then someone gets sick or needy, or I get particularly busy with one job or the other, and suddenly I feel like all my balls are running loose and I can’t seem to catch them and put them back into place. It makes for funny imagery but hysteria isn’t far behind.

Most folks probably have a similar story though the details might vary. I’m sure there are one or two people who enjoy all the busyness and drama. They probably thrive on it. Not me. I’m too old and too tired. I’m long past the stage of surviving on five hours of sleep and perpetual motion. How about you?

“If you believe in me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within.” -- John 7:38

I’ve learned to turn to the Bible when I’m too tired to go on. I let the words wash over me. I remember Elijah and how God sent angels to take care of him. I think of David as he hid from Saul again and again. How tiring that must have been.

As the words flow through me, I feel His peace descend over me. A calmness in knowing that I am not in control. Not ever, even when I know where all my balls are. God is in control. I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I don’t have to have all the answers or meet everyone’s needs. I can trust Him with it all.

My energy returns and, with it, the ability to give out a little bit of what God has given to me. The living water inside of me cascades outward to those I encounter each day. That’s a pretty awesome thing. I don’t seem so tired, so overwhelmed. I drink my fill of Jesus and I never, ever run dry.