Come Thirsty

John 4:1-42

Jesus wanted a drink.  He was tired and hot and thirsty so he went to the well to get a drink.  And then she showed up.  You know her, the woman at the well.  The woman who had been married 5 times and who was now with another man.  The woman who was never satisfied so she kept doing the same thing over and over, hoping to find something to quench her thirst for love, for acceptance.  You may know someone like that - it may be you.  You keep working longer hours to find that satisfaction in your job, or your bank account.  You work out longer and harder to look the way the world expects you to look.  You keep dating the wrong guy or the wrong woman because no one seems to fill that dry spot in your heart.

Meet the woman at the well. She went later in the day, after all the other women went to the well.  This way she wouldn't be judged, or pushed aside. She shows up and there is a man there - and he asks her for a drink of water.  Well, she knows what that means.  In the past it meant "lets talk.  Lets get to know one another".  She pushed back  - "How could a man like you ask for water from a Samaritan woman like me?" (John 4:9)  He could because He is God.  He isn't concerned with race or gender.  “there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

John 4:10  "If you only knew the free gift of God".  She had been solicited before.  She knew gifts had strings attached.  But not this one. Not this time. You know what I mean - someone gives you something and you wonder "whats the catch".  What do you want from me in return?   But God doesn't work that way.  What he offers is FREE!!!

She came to the well for water, and was offered LIVING WATER!

“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 4:14

She was willing to settle for less, but Jesus wanted her to have more.  He wanted her to experience living water, He wanted her soul to come alive! He wanted her to experience TRUE JOY!  We have to set aside what our bodies want and listen to our hearts.  We must learn to satisfy our soul and not our physical self.    “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6).  So often we go down paths that lead us to a dry desert.  We think what we are doing will quench our thirst for life and we end up more dry and depleted than ever before.  Life is sucked out of us to the point we don't want to lift our heads and face another day.  But we have this offer:

John 4:14  "But whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst again.  The water will become a spring in him".  Whoever DRINKS.  Going to church, carrying around a Bible, listening to Christian music - those are all good things.  But unless we DRINK of the living water, we will remain dry and thirsty. We can't just carry the Bible, we have to OPEN IT and read it.  DRINK.   When we listen to that Christian music we need to let it seep in and start to fill those dry spots with the living truth.  We need to WORSHIP God thru the song.  When we go to church we need to get plugged in.  I've heard people say "I'm not getting fed at this church".  To be fed you have to do something - Hand to mouth!  Get involved. Serve.  DO!

No person or thing of this world can supply the water of life.  Only God.  We try though don't we?  We spend money we don't have trying to fill a need in our heart of acceptance.  We date people we shouldn't date trying to fill that emptiness in our hearts that only God can fill.   We drink to escape.  The list can go on - and you know what that thing is for you.  But only GOD can give us life.  Only God can fill those dry places in our lives with his Living Water.  So DRINK.  What is stopping you? Its a free gift, freely given to anyone who asks.  Go to the well today.  Its the perfect time of season, don't you think?  As we come upon Christmas, instead of seeking gifts and things to fill you - go to the well and drink of the living water that was sent as a child to fill our hearts with His living water.  DRINK today and LIVE!