“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.'” — John 4:10 (ESV)
In John 4:7-15 (ESV), we find a powerful metaphor illustrating God’s heart for His people:
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
We were created with an insatiable thirst for relationship with God. We were made to experience true rest and satisfaction in one place and from one relationship — intimacy with the Father. In Jesus, we find what our hearts have been looking for from our first breath. In Jesus, we find a pathway to the Father not formed by our exploration or wandering, but by His steadfast love and unceasing pursuit.
Jesus looks to you and me today and offers us life-giving water that satiates our most foundational thirst. He places within us “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14, ESV). He gives us clear, boundless access to intimacy with God, that our hearts might overflow with rivers of His loving-kindness. And this love isn’t something we have to strive for. It’s not something we have to work to earn. Rather, it’s a free gift, like salvation, that we can simply open our hearts to and receive.
Take time today to receive what God so freely gives. Find rest and purpose in intimacy with your Creator. Cease your striving and open your heart to the God who’s loved you from the beginning. And drink deeply of the endless well of God’s steadfast love.
— Craig Denison, First 15
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