Living Water

Clean water is a vital component in keeping our lives functioning and healthy. We use it for so many things: quenching our thirst, cleaning our bodies, washing dirt from surfaces, and nourishing our crops. We travel over the surface of water to explore the earth or search for food. Our fruits and vegetables are mostly water. If you place a drop of clean water under a microscope, you can see it is teeming with the life that we all need. In John 4:10-14, Jesus spoke of living water as He stood by a well with a Samaritan woman. Just like the Samaritan woman, we all long to know how to have this living water that satisfies endlessly. Jesus never said or did anything without purpose, so what could He have meant by living water? Later, in John 7:38, Jesus talked about living water again and said, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” When Jesus offered living water, He was speaking of the Holy Spirit, the reservoir of God’s life within us, who Jesus would give to His followers later. Jesus knew what He was doing when He used water as an example to reveal the abundant life He offers through the Holy Spirit. We need water to live. Without Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, we would all die, alone in the desolation of our sin. But if we’ve put our trust in Jesus, He quenches our spiritual thirst like a drink of cold water reviving us in an empty desert. This abundant life, this living water, is teeming with every good thing, just like that small drop under the microscope. It is not stagnant or full of harmful bacteria but is fresh and flowing as a mountain stream. God is the source of all good things. Jesus promised, “To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life” (Revelation 21:6). Like the Samaritan woman, all we need to do is put our trust in Jesus to accept His beautiful gift. • Susan Sundwall • It can be difficult to accept that we’re helpless to save ourselves from death, like a traveler stranded in a huge desert. It requires humility to receive help rather than try to earn our way out. How might it be freeing to know that God wants to give us life to the full, even though we can never earn it? (To find out more about this good news, check out our “Know Jesus” page.) • What does the Holy Spirit produce in the lives of Christians who live according to the Spirit (Romans 8:5; Galatians 5:22-23)? With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. Isaiah 12:3 (NIV)

Read Verses:

John 4:1-26; 7:38-39; 10:10; James 1:17