Good Monday morning! I am glad to be here today, and I hope that you are as well. We have a great opportunity to serve Jesus and build the church as we grow in Christ. Have you ever looked at another person's or group's situation and said something like, "Whew, they really messed up there!" We do it more often than we would like. When a major Christian organization or ministry has financial or other troubles, we tend to judge them in the space of a moment. Do we know all the facts? Does our judgment fit the situation? It is unlikely that we will know all facts and we do know that God is in charge, even when He lets that person, group, or our very own self, mess up in a big way. In any of those cases, there may have been no mistake at all. Job lost his family, fortune, and possessions while doing nothing wrong. Any of us may go through a time of intense trial at any moment. Some of those times we have done nothing wrong and our only option is to trust in God. Then we judge our own trials in the same way; "Must have messed up somewhere for things to be going so badly!" Are you sure about that?
What does our woman at the well have to say to Jesus' offer of living water today?
"Please, sir," the woman said, "give me this water! Then I'll never be thirsty again, and I won't have to come here to get water." John 4:15
Like Nicodemus in chapter 3, this woman doesn't understand what it is that Jesus is offering. She sees a wonderful magic in this living water; a water that quenches her physical thirst forever and removes her need for drinking, washing, cooking, and all other types of water usage. While that would be some nice water to have, Jesus was not offering a way to permanently remove our earthly, physical needs. We have the Gospels; it's easy to look at this woman's story and judge her in a negative way. More than likely you and I would have done no better than Nicodemus or the woman of Sychar in the same situation. Jesus had a new message that people struggled to understand. Even today, with the Gospels in hand, we might struggle with thoughts like, "When am I going to feel saved?" That bubbling spring of living water within us is not going to be connected to a spigot on our naval so that we can run around the Sahara watering thirsty camels.
"Hey there, Mr. Camel! Check out the spigot Jesus gave me. Here have a nice, refreshing drink of living water!"
Meeting people on the street.
"Got your spigot there I see. Glad to know you've been saved. Praise God!"
Nope, we still go on faith just as all of our heroes did in the Bible. We don't get to judge others on
whether they have a spigot of living water on their navels. Instead, we must obey the command: Love your neighbors as you love yourself.
Bucky
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