John 4
contains a picture that every Christian must see and understand if
they want to
relate to Christ properly.
The
scene opens with Jesus talking to a woman as he sits beside a well
near a
Samaritan village. During
their visit,
Jesus mentions that he could give her something called “living
water”. More than a little
confused, she responds,
“Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living
water? Are you greater
than our father Jacob…?”
(verses 11-12). Do you
hear what she is
saying? She is saying,
“You do not even have
a bucket! You cannot do
anything!”
Pause
here: I think many people
see Jesus exactly
this way. They believe
that Jesus is
nice and a good guy to have hanging around.
However, when it comes to the practical issues in life, he
is of little use. He does
not have a bucket! If
anything is going to get done, fixed or
accomplished, it is going to happen because we are working. We have the bucket. All Jesus can do is watch. He cannot, and will not,
contribute anything towards
our every day concerns.
How
do
I know that we think this way? We
worry! We act as if we are
completely alone and that
we must fix everything. Although,
many
times, we are told otherwise (See Luke 12:22-34), we really do not
believe that
Jesus has a bucket!
I
love
Jesus’ response. He says,
“The water I
give will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life”
(verse 14). Note
the words “welling up”. Not only could Jesus supply
what this woman
needs, those blessings would bubble up and overflow in her life
both now and
eternally. They could not
be
contained!
Interestingly,
once she understands, she runs and tells everyone she knows. Maybe, if we saw Jesus
properly, we would
share that joyful message too.
Do
you
believe that Jesus cares about what you are going though? Do you know that he can help?
Jesus
is
not waiting to meet you someday. Rather,
he is walking with you right now and can flood your life with his
providential
care if you let him.
“Cast
all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
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