Living Water

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
John 4:10

Wonderful words and it’s pretty easy to see what they might mean for someone who is not a Christian. In v.14 he says ‘Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ He is talking about the promise of the Holy Spirit.

‘So, Samaritan woman, leave your life of serial adultery, of looking for that perfect man who will give you satisfaction and security. Turn away from that life, leave your water jar behind and turn instead to Jesus, let him give you the living water of his Spirit that wells up within you again and again and again through to eternity.’

What though do these verses mean for a Christian? Are we really satisfied so that we are immune to the advertisments all around us? If we’re being truthful the answer is no. So what do we do? Surely the same as the Samaritan woman. We acknowledge our sin and look to Jesus.

‘I’m so sorry Lord, I’ve been seeking to satisfy that thirst in all the wrong places again. I should know better that it never lasts because I’ve drunk of your living water and nothing can satisfy like that. Please help me to slake my thirst in you. Would you again give me that wonderfully cool, clear, fresh, thirst quenching water? Would you cause your Spirit to bubble up within me again, filling me to overflowing.’

For us leaving the water jar behind, v.28, is an every single day thing.

You, God, are my God,

earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.
Psalms 63:1