Day 8

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”   — JOHN 4:13-14

We were born with a thirst for love, identity, meaning and purpose. These are good, wholesome and legitimate appetites that we spend much of our life pursuing. But the meeting of those needs is not superficial. When Jesus identified to the woman of Samaria her thirst, and told her He could give her water from which she would never thirst again, she responded cynically that He didn’t have a bucket – ‘you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep’ (John 4.11). 

It was then Jesus described this water in a very wonderful way: “the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life”, or, as some translations put it, ‘a well of water… springing up...’. The picture is this: The water Jesus gives will be deep like a well, and fresh like a spring. 

To be effective and satisfying, the water of the gospel must go deep. It is not addressing symptoms but causes. It goes beyond our sins (our actions) to our sin (our nature). It does not just change what we do, but what we are. It does not improve our lives; it replaces it with the life of Jesus Christ, lived in us by the Holy Spirit. It is a deep work that God does, and we must allow Him to go deep.  It is possible to be so concerned about the symptoms of our sins, and what we do, that we seek only to deal on that level. Thus, we are satisfied with being forgiven and a little behavior modification. But that is not the intent of the Lord Jesus. He wishes to go deep into every area of our lives, to exercise His reign and to provide His resources.

But this water is not only deep, it is also fresh, fresh like a spring. In the home I grew up in, our water was supplied from a spring a short distance away, which continuously bubbled up.  It was always overflowing, always fresh, always clean, and supplied only two houses! Its origin was deep underground, but it found its way out, and whether wet or dry on the surface, the water that surfaced was always sufficient and fresh from deep down. This is the picture Jesus gave this thirsty woman at the well. She could go home with water that would cause her never to thirst again that would go deep into every part of her life, and be fresh for every eventuality she would face.

PRAYER: Lord, Thank You for the supply of living water that not only goes deep into my life, but is constantly fresh in my experience, so that I need never thirst again.

TO REFLECT UPON: Am I truly satisfied or is there something I need to draw more deeply from the living water Christ offers to meet that thirst?