BC - Day 308

"Jesus answered, '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 4:13-15


Footnote:  Many spiritual functions parallel physical functions.  As our bodies hunger and thirst, so do our souls.  But our souls need spiritual food and water.  The woman confused the two kinds of water, perhaps because no one had ever talked with her about her spiritual hunger and thirst before.  We would not think of depriving our bodies of food and water when they hunger or thirst.  Why then should we deprive our souls?  The living Word, Jesus Christ, and the written Word, the Bible, can satisfy our hungry and thirsty souls.


The woman mistakenly believed that if she received the water Jesus offered, she would not have to return to the well each day.  She was interested in Jesus' message because she thought it could make her life easier.  But if that were always the case, people would accept Christ's message for the wrong reasons.  Christ did not come to take away challenges, but to change us on the inside and to empower us to deal with problems from God's perspective.


The woman did not immediately understand what Jesus was talking about.  It takes time to accept something that changes the very foundations of your life.  Jesus allowed the woman time to ask questions and put pieces together for herself.  Sharing the gospel will not always have immediate results.  When you ask people to let Jesus change their lives, give them time to weigh the matter.


"When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, 'Gather the pieces that are left over.  Let nothing be wasted.'  So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten."  John 6:12,13


Footnote:  There is a lesson in the leftovers.  God gives in abundance.  He takes whatever we can offer him in time, ability, or resources and multiples its effectiveness beyond our wildest expectations.  If you take the first step in making yourself available to God, he will show you how greatly you can be used to advance the work of his kingdom.


That last footnote is so reassuring to me.  Do you ever feel like you fall short or miss the mark in some way?  I know I do BUT I can have the confidence that God will take my best efforts and turn them into something great for his Kingdom and "let nothing be wasted."  Praise the Lord!


JUST KEEP READING.........

All footnotes in italics taken from Life Application Study Bible, New International Version.