33. It's never too late (John 4:10-18)
Posted by:
SeLahGirl on
January 5, 2008 at
5:05PM EST
It's never too late
(John 4:10-18)
10Jesus 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."
Talk about grace, about second chances...
It sounds like she missed her chance. If she had only known. But that is the wonderful and amazing thing about Christ, there is always hope for another chance if we will just ask.
In truth, in the past, under the law, under the prejudice of other holy men, she would have had no hope. She would have been locked into missed opportunity, been disqualified, rejected and turned away. But Christ wanted her to understand that this is now, this is today, this is the day of salvation, the day of another chance... the day for hope. It was that day for her, and it is that day for us. Right now, in the midst of our sin, in the midst of our imperfections, in the midst of being judged by everyone around us.
Christ sits down with us and offers us hope for change.
11"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
Here is the mindset of the world. It cannot see into the deeper things, eternal things, the plan that God has laid before us to take us beyond just what we can see and touch. He takes us within this physical realm into the spiritual realm. He takes us to things that cannot be seen -- but that can be claimed and pulled into the here and now by Faith. We have more muscle to affect change than we realize. Christ wants to pull back the veil and open our eyes as to who we truly are. So much more than just our physical appearance.... so much more than the world would have us to believe.
Here she is, this Samaritan woman, measuring up Christ in the same manner that the world has measured her. But Christ is about to show her a new way to view people. He is about to help her to see those around her and even herself in a new light.
13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but 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."
What is this water? It is the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of Truth. That is what brings change. And what is that Truth?... That God has sent his son into the world to bring change, to offer hope, to communicate his great love for us as his children, his heartache at being separated from us, his desire to have us with him again... what he is willing to do to make a way.
In this passage, this encounter with the Samaritan woman, Christ has poured out a taste of the Truth for her to sample. Would it be palatable to her? Would she ask for more? Was her nature and character one that would reject it with disdain and offense? Or would she ask him to explain more? How thirsty was she for hope, for change?
15The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
Yes, she was thirsty for more.
She did not fully understand what he was talking about, but she was thirsty for Truth. She recognized and acknowledged that Christ was walking in it and could be trusted. She wanted to understand. She wanted to a better life in many ways. She wanted Truth.
Now was she willing to own it, to commit to it, to walk in Truth in all areas of her life and being.
Here was the test...
16He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
17"I have no husband," she replied.
Rather than presenting some bogus story, she takes that first step down that road of Truth. "I have no husband." And that is all that is needed. To be willing to move in the direction of what is right and true. If we would only do that, Christ will often stop us and declare that it is enough. Like Abraham offering Isaac, the test confirms so much to so many... often times, just in the first step or only a little ways into it.
The key is that we are willing to see it thru to the end if necessary.
The choice lies in deciding to take that first step in the direction of Truth. That is the path we must defend and fight to follow, whether against our own fleshly desires or against the spirit of the world. We must always be moving in the direction that Christ has walked as our example, Truth.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
Before we ask, he has answered. Before we can realize the depth of anything that he asks of us, he has set increase in place and planned great things for us. The one thing we must do is to -- choose.
Christ knows us better than we know ourselves. He is the perfect father, unlike our earthly fathers (who try as they may, will never be perfect). He disciplines with love to guard our well-being, he devotes all to the good of the family as a whole as well as to each individual. He plans all things to be that perfect Father... not to fulfill a role, but to build that relationship with his children that he longs for as much as they do.
He knew the situation of this woman, yet he approached her so gently. He sat down beside her and wanted to let her know that he sees her, that he sincerely cares about what's going on in her life personally. He doesn't see her as that Samaritan woman, as that woman living with some guy on the corner... he sees her as Mary or Lakisha or Sam or Kyle.
He sees you.
There is nothing you have done, there is no sin that you are walking in, there is nothing that can shut the door on the hope that he died to offer you. He sincerely cares. And he will bring change for a better LIFE if you are willing to just taste Truth and see for yourself.
7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
(Psalm 34:7-9)
Christ loves you.
It's never too late. Today is the day of salvation then and now, for her and for me and for you. There is hope even when it seems hopeless, a way out -- an escape is not a negative thing when it allows you to enter into freedom and a second chance at Life. All you gotta do to have it, is decide to accept the offer. Christ has already paid for it all, and he can make it happen for you. That's what he's offering. If you don't believe me, just ask him for yourself (right now, right where ur at).
