It's time for a heart transplant

In the Old Testament the Scriptures record that God calls a man named Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh, a great city of over 120,000 people to proclaim the name of God in their midst.

But Jonah goes the other way. Away from Nineveh. Away from the purpose of the Lord.

Jonah goes down to harbor and boards a ship (thankfully he pays the fare), to run away from the Lord. But God, in his grace, doesn’t let Jonah continue to flee from His presence and purpose. God comes to Jonah and throws a mighty storm on the sea.

The sailors on the ship Jonah boarded get scared. They cry out to their gods. They cry out to anything they see or believe in the sky to deliver and save them. The Scripture has this interesting phrase in Jonah 1:5 “then the mariners (sailors) were afraid, and each cried out to their god, and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them.”

This is what we all do. We are all just trying to throw cargo into the sea. As broken people what we see is usually all that see. We don’t see a deeper reality or understand that there is much more at work in our lives then what we can see.

The Scriptures point to our brokenness as sinfulness. That we have pursued other things instead of the Lord and that we have tried to clean up our lives (throwing cargo into sea) threw our own efforts to appease God or to ride the storm better or whatever. But that will never work. Ever.

The problem is not simply in how you react to people who treat your poorly, or some external reaction or action that you have. The problem lies in your heart. As my wife said this morning....you have a heart problem.

And you can’t throw enough cargo into the sea to change your heart. If you say that you want to be less bitter, or you want to love people more, or you want to be more grateful, or more content, but don’t address the heart issues underneath all of those things then all you will be doing is throwing more cargo into the sea to try and make you feel better about you.

The reaction of the sailors is very natural--very human. We all want to make our lives better. Whether we are secular or religious we want to “do better” or “be better” or “be kinder” or “love more selflessly”, but we can’t do any of that if we don’t get at our hearts. But going after your heart is much harder then simply addressing a reaction or external action.

It is easy to say I want to be less indifferent people, but it is harder to get at why you are so indifferent to people, and what in your heart continually makes you indifferent to all sorts of people. Getting at the heart is much harder, but it also the basis of real transformation. This is where gospel transformation has its roots. And we all need hearts centered on the gospel.

The sailors need the gospel.
Jonah needs the gospel.
Christians needs the gospel.
Secular people needs the gospel.
Religious people need the gospel.

The gospel says your heart is the real problem. Not your actions. You act this way because you’re heart is dark. That is why Jesus Christ comes to give us a new heart and He sends the Spirit to continue His work of sanctification in our lives--to make our hearts more centered on the gospel.

So...
What are you throwing into the sea?
What things are you trying to do to make yourself better that isn’t really transforming your life?
What is the state of your heart?

The point is not to simply try harder, or feel guilty, or pick something else in your life to work on, but to examine your heart and let the gospel wash over your heart and then influence all of your life.

The sailors are doing what they think will make the storm go away or make it easier for them. But it won’t. They don’t just need something else to do, they need someone to rescue them.

The gospel is all about rescue.
For our hearts.
For our lives.
For our world.

It's time for a heart transplant.

It's not WHAT work satisfies, it's WHOSE work satisfies

Work was never meant to ultimately satisfy us. God was meant to ultimately satisfy us.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has placed "eternity on our hearts." Not just this week or this year or even this lifetime, but eternity, He has placed eternity on our hearts, and so our hearts long for something more than what happens 'under the sun'. Our hearts scream out for MORE! But now sin has come into our hearts and absolutely sickened them, and now our hearts only deceive us and make us work for things that will never truly satisfy us. Jeremiah 17:9 says that the "heart is deceitful above all else, it is desperately sick." And so sin comes in and makes our hearts dark, and now we go about pursuing pleasure and purpose in all these things outside of God.

And the self-help, American culture answer to our heart problem is to just think more positive, or to try harder, or be more happy or whatever. You can try and work for any of those things--more happiness, more purpose, more self-fulfillment, but your heart remains dark and broken. So now we seek ultimate pleasure and satisfaction in our jobs, or in relationships, or in friendships...but deep down we know (and the Bible says) that those things can never ultimately satisfy us.

It's not WHAT work satisfies us, it's WHOSE work satisfies us.

Jesus Christ. His work on the cross for us, that is the work that satisfies us, and we rest, trust, and submit to that work then all of the other work that we do with hour minds and hands will have meaning! Only when we seek Christ first and allow Him to give us a new heart can we begin agreeing with Paul when he says "nothing you do FOR THE LORD is ever in vain". Because when Christ is the goal, when you are resting in His work alone then no matter what you are doing, from the mundane to the extraordinary, is in vain.

Whether you work in downtown Dallas or teach in Richardson or do any number of jobs that the church often (and wrongly) considers "secular" Paul says your work is not in vain! You don't have to be a pastor or a missionary for your work to not be in vain, you can do any work, and if Christ experienced and glorified is the goal of your and is what you are ultimately seeking satisfaction in then nothing you are doing is in vain. Nothing. It may not seem that way, but it is the truth.

Find your ultimate satisfaction in the work of Christ on the cross, and then allow God to show you how work can bring you great joy and bring others great joy as well. Jesus Christ comes to give us a new heart, one that beats for Him, and one that seeks the Kingdom in all areas of life!

Don't make being a great Christian the ultimate goal!
Don't make being super content at work the ultimate goal of all your work!
Don't make praying more the ultimate goal!
Don't making being a great boyfriend or girlfriend the ultimate goal!

Make Christ the ultimate goal. Christ treasured, experienced, and glorified the ultimate goal.

AND THEN...you will find the means to be a strong Christian, and to be content at your job, and to be more passionate at prayer...and so on! That is the only way the order can work--Christ first and then any other goals you have second!

Only Christ can fill the void in hearts that long for eternity!

Pauls says his only goal in all his work is to "gain Christ and be found in Him"

would it be so with us,
RD

Vision 2011

The New Year always brings out lists of New Years resolutions for people of how they want to "do better" in the next year. Statistics show that most people don't keep these resolutions. Discipline is hard. Life change is hard, but it necessary and the start of a new year really is one of the best times to ever try and start something.

Here is my take on the traditional New Years Resolutions. It is more of a "Casting Vision" for relationships and individuals with big ideas backed up with different questions to ask. These are for people in relationships to ask each other as they try and set vision for 2011 and also for individuals who are single to ask themselves as they set out in 2011. There aren't "action steps" here for how to implement all these, but I think asking questions and finding creative ways to change your lifestyle is important.

The biggest resolution to ever have is to push harder and more deeply into Jesus because in Him is all life, meaning, hope, and peace. He is the goal and the prize and the One that we chase, for our deep joy and the world's good. I hope some of these help you to start thinking about how to take your life to another level and begin to run the race with endurance, to live a life in 2011 that actually matters.

When I use the word "we" in all these I am meaning for both couples and also individuals. So wherever you are at you can ask these questions for yourself and/or for the relationship you are in. Happy New Year to everyone! Praying that 2011 is the best year of your life yet, why should you settle for any less of a goal?

1. Physical
How will you/we (individually/together) be active? What will we do? How much will we do? When will we do it? How often? Running? Working out? Walking? Sports? How will we eat? What foods will we eat? Will our food/dining choices glorify God and be good for our bodies? Can we make our food choices benefit local farmers more? How will our food choices fight social injustice? Can they? How will we eat healthier? More socially responsible? How will we get in the best shape of our lives in 2011?
DO SOMETHING:
INDIVIDUALS: SIGN UP FOR A 5K OR HALF-MARATHON
COUPLES: RUN, WALK, OR PLAY A SPORT TOGETHER

2. Emotional & Mental
How will you/we (individually/together) stay mentally and emotionally sane? How will we engage emotionally with each other? What will we spend our time talking about? What will we read this year? How will we be entertained this year? How will we find time to emotionally recharge? How will we stay emotionally connected? Mentally engaged to each other? How will we be emotionally available to each other? How will we communicate better? How will we grow intellectually in 2011? What is something that we can learn about this year?
DO SOMETHING
INDIVIDUAL-- PICK A SUBJECT YOU HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO LEARN ABOUT AND ACTUALLY LEARN ABOUT IT ALL YEAR.
COUPLES--CARVE A NIGHT ONCE A WEEK OR TWICE A MONTH TO TALK ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP.

3. Gospel
How do we live out the gospel in our relationship/in our individual lives? How do we show each other the gospel through our words and deeds? How do we keep the gospel central? How do we base a relationship on grace and not works? How are good works in service to each other the fruit of our relationship and not the root? How do we practice forgiveness and grace tangibly? How do we challenge each other to be like Jesus Christ everyday? How is our relationship going to be increasingly gospel-saturated? How are you growing in your knowledge of the gospel? How are being obedient to Christ?
DO SOMETHING
INDIVIDUAL--READ A BIBLE WITH A GOOD COMMENTARY AND GET A READING PLAN AND STICK TO IT.
COUPLES--FIND TIME TO TALK ABOUT JESUS, THE GOSPEL, AND WHAT ROLES YOU HAVE IN A RELATIONSHIP BIBLICALLY.

4. Money
How do you spend money? in a relationship? What gifts do we get each other? Do we spend too much on each other? Too little? How do we handle individual finances? How can we improve this? Are we being biblical stewards of the money in our bank accounts? Does our spending glorify God? What can we cut out, modify, or change in our finances? Are we spending money on each other for dates, gifts, and to show deep affection OR to just show off and impress?
DO SOMETHING
INDIVIDUAL--ACTUALLY TITHE TO YOUR LOCAL CHURCH.
COUPLES-- GO ON FEWER DATES IN THE CITY AND STAY HOME AND COOK AND WATCH A MOVIE SOMETIMES.

5. Family
How are you loving your own families? How are we reaching out to them? How are we getting to know each other's families? How are you keeping your family in the loop about your life? About your relationship? How are we being Christ to them? And how are we reaching them with the gospel? How can we grow closer to our own and to each others families in 2011?
DO SOMETHING:
INDIVIDUALS--CALL YOUR PARENTS MORE OFTEN OR WRITE THEM EMAILS MORE OFTEN.
COUPLES--TALK ABOUT YOUR FAMILIES, BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER'S FAMILIES.

6. Mission
How do you/we live for others and not just ourselves in 2011? What will be your missional focus? How we will individually reach out to the lost? How will we do that through a relationship? How will we pursue justice? What will we pray for? What will we do that actually matters in 2011? How will we live on mission? For our city? For the nations? For God? How can we be more obedient to Christ? How can we love selflessly and sacrificially so that those far from God would be brought near?
DO SOMETHING
INDIVIDUALS--SERVE/LOVE YOUR CITY THROUGH THE CHURCH OR A LOCAL NON-PROFIT.
COUPLES--SPEND TIME WITH OTHER COUPLES AND REACH OUT TO THEM.

7. Fun/Play
How will we have fun? How will we do Sabbath? What does rest look like for us? What new things do we want to try individually and together? How can we keep things fresh and exciting and fun? How much should we play? Why should just play sometimes? When do we need to just cut up? How you/do we enjoy each other and life more in 2011?
DO SOMETHING
INDIVIDUALS--GO SKYDIVING, GO ON A HIKE, TRAVEL SOMEWHERE CRAZY
COUPLES--LAUGH A LOT MORE TOGETHER. DON'T BE SO DANG SERIOUS ALL THE TIME. IT'S BORING. BE SPONTANEOUS.


8. Friendships
How will you/we grow our own same gender friendships? How will we reach out to our friends? How will we make new friends of our same gender? What kind of time will we carve out with them? Weekly? Monthly? Who will we mentor? Who will mentor us? How will we engage with our small groups? How will we deepen our closest friendships? What other couples will we reach out to and engage? How will we keep up appropriate boundaries with opposite sex friends? What steps can we take to remain above reproach and completely faithful to each other? If you are single do you want to remain that way? Do you want to pursue dating? What does that look like?
DO SOMETHING:
INDIVIDUALS: GROW DEEP FRIENDSHIPS WITH PEOPLE OF YOUR SAME GENDER. OR BECOME A FRIEND TO A GIRL BEFORE YOU ASK HER OUT (GUYS). AND DON'T WEAR TIGHTS FOR PANTS (GIRLS) OUT IN PUBLIC.
COUPLES: FIND A YOUNGER OR OLDER COUPLE TO SPEND SOME QUALITY TIME WITH.

9. Work
How will you/we approach work/school in 2011? What goals do we have in our work? What needs to change? How will we approach work as Christians? What role will our jobs and/or schools have in our lives? In our relationship? How will we work as unto God and not man through our vocation in 2011? How can we encourage each other in our vocations? Do you need to change vocations? And how can we nurture our dreams for our future vocations?
DO SOMETHING:
INDIVIDUALS: SPEND SOME TIME REFLECTING ON WHAT YOU DO AND WHY EXACTLY YOU DO IT.
COUPLES: VISIT EACH OTHER AT YOUR DIFFERENT PLACE OF WORK. IT'S FUN AND THOUGHTFUL.

10. Relationship
How are we doing? How do we continue growing as a couple? How do create time to check in on our relationship? How do we create a safe place for growth and vulnerability? How can we challenge each other to love better? How can we love each other more specifically? How can we encourage each other deeply? How much time will we spend with each other? How many date nights? With others? How can we keep biblical boundaries physically (if you aren't married)? How can our relationship be missional? How can we date for the sake of others? How do we pursue greater unity? How do we communicate? How do we work on loving each other more deeply, passionately, biblically, and holistically in 2011?
DO SOMETHING:
INDIVIDUALS: DON'T WORRY. BE YOURSELF. YOU WILL GO ON A DATE THIS YEAR. AND IT COULD BE YOUR LAST FIRST DATE EVER.
COUPLES: ALWAYS BE HONEST. ALWAYS. AND CREATE A SAFE PLACE FOR HONESTY IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP.

And finally...what might be one word to stamp on 2011 as we go forward? Individually? What is your theme word for 2011 for yourself?
What is your vision/theme statement for yourself in 2011? What is it for us as a couple in 2011?

Hope something in there helps! Questions help us frame our lives and can give us direction so that who we really want to be "one day" we can start become "today".

If you do nothing else. Read your Bible. And everything else, as they say, will take care of itself.

Happy New Year to you all,
R.D.

Never Good Enough

"For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." -Hebrews 10:4

The entire message of the Old Testament is this--Man blows everything up. That is really it.

God spends book after book, man after man, generation after generation, year after year showing anyone who will read this book that man's sin wrecks everything. The Israelites worship everything but God most of the time and the leaders of the Israelites fall in every single way imaginable. They, like us, are failures.

Romans says "all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory." That is a nice way of saying we fail God. All the time.

The story of the Old Testament is the story of God and the story of the Law that God passed down to man. The Law that God passed to man are God's rules, God's commands for His people to live by. But man cannot follow the Law. The Law, in the end, exists to show man how far he is from God and how much He fails God. We fail the Law because our morality and our good works cannot get us to God, the sacrifices of bulls and goats do not please God.

Enter the Gospel. God's sacrifice for us, on our behalf. It is all God. Not us. We don't do anything. God does it all. All of it. God saves, not us...we can't save ourselves. Only God can save. And only He does. So we can now rest in that and quit trying to earn our way to God. We can't do it. The Old Testament screams that.

But today we still try and offer sacrifices to God, maybe not bulls and goats in Dallas, TX, but replace bulls and goats with relationships, work, vocation, family, morality...insert any of those there. We think (I can think) that if sacrifice enough in our relationships or if we work hard enough at work or if we are morally righteous then God will accept us and loves us and even bless us. How good is good enough? No such thing. Old Testament. Read it. Man is evil and wrecks everything on his own.

Jesus came to deliver us from our condemnation under the law. The law only shows us how guilty we really are and reminds us how guilty we are, but Jesus came to set us free from that and make us quit sacrificing to please Him and start resting in His sacrifice for us.

You will never be good enough for God. No matter what you do. But through Jesus Christ, God has accepted you and freed you from living a works-based religion. What the law could never do Christ did. The Old Testament paves the way for the New Testament and for the Gospel...for Jesus to set us free from having to be good enough.

Romans 8:1-4
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."


R.D.

Refugees, Orphans, Prodigals, and Me

"He had spent everything...and he began to be in need." -the prodigal son (luke 15)

We are a people in great need. Born into the world broken, orphaned, and looking for refuge. For some of us the need for a home, the need for a refuge is masked (to a degree) by our families, who love us and raise us, giving us a place to feel accepted and loved. Many, however, are born into vastly different circumstances.

There are over 140 million orphans in the world.
There are over 10 million refugees in the world.
There are over 25 million internally displaced people. (Individuals who live as virtual refugees in their home country.)
There are nearly 500,000 children in the US foster care system.

Heartbreaking.

Even more heartbreaking is the billions of people who are unaware that they are orphans, that they are prodigals, that they are refugees seeking a home. The Scriptures are clear, all of us, EVERY SINGLE ONE, was an orphan before we were adopted (Galatians 5) by our Abba Father. We were all refugees, and God revealed Himself to be to our refuge. We were all prodigals, and God came running to us as Father. Deuteronomy 10:19 calls Israel "to love the alien because you were at one time aliens in Egypt." We are to love the orphan, the alien, the refugee...because at one time we were ALL these things, and God came in search of us.

How often do we think of the prodigal son as someone else? Someone besides ourselves? Someone who has sinned far worse then we ever have. Let's keep it real, we are all prodigals, we have all gone in search of treasures outside of God. The prodigal son eventually spent all of his money, trying to find a host of things to satisfy him. It is then that Luke says that the prodigal son "began to be in need." What an interesting turn of phrase. It is here, when the prodigal son begins to understand his need, that I believe he begins the journey home.

It begins with need. It begins with our understanding that before we can start to act "Christ-like" we need to be awakened to our great need "for Christ". Need precedes transformation. And it is our great need that God comes to fill. Luke writes "And he arose and came to his father. But while HE WAS STILL A LONG WAY OFF, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him." The Gospel. Right there. When we had no hope, when we were far away, God came running to us. Every single time that we rebel God seeks to rescue, to reconcile us back to Him.

There are physical refugees and orphans in this world, and we need to love them and provide a home for them. www.togetherforadoption.org This is a biblical imperative, it is not optional. We must remember that we, that you, were once an orphan, were once a prodigal, filthy and dirty and eating with the pigs until God came and got you and made you clean. It was nothing you did, it was all what God did. I pray we all remember this, and that this would spur us to love and good deeds toward the orphans, refugees, and prodigals among us.

11Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, — 12remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God... -Ephesians 2:11-13, 19

Jesus himself, born in a borrowed barn in Asia, became an African refugee in Egypt. He is one who understands the plight of the refugee, the plight of all of us. So much so that He came to give us a home, a home full of love, life, and His eternal presence.

this is our God,
R.D.

Falling In Love With Your City

"You will be the restorers of the streets..." - Isaiah 58

You can't phone in love. Love requires presence. Love is a verb. To truly love someone you have to know them, and to know them you have spend time with them.

Intentional proximity breeds transformational intimacy.

The Scriptures lay out a very simple idea for transformation. Experience Christ, fall before Him in worship, give your life away in total abandon. Repeat steps 1 through 3. I went there.

Life flows from God. And God desires for that life to flood into His cities and His nations. They are all His. The King of New York City is Jesus Christ. The King of Dallas, Texas is Jesus Christ. He owns it, it's His. And He is calling us to fall in love with it, and to give our lives for it. For the people in our city. The need is immense. The brokenness is overwhelming. But God.

But God has called His bride, the church to be the repairers of the breach and the restorers of the breach, to be people seeking the peace of our city. We should be loving our city to life. The gospel is life, and people are dying. Act.

Don't stand idly by and pray only. If prayer was enough the world would be a whole lot better by now. Love your city to life. Toil, sweat, strive, work for the peace of your city through your vocation, your free time, your relationships, your church, your whole life. Spend time with the people in your life and spend time getting to know where you live.

How do you fall in love with someone? Over time.

Fall in love with your city. So love your city to life in the name of Jesus. Be a restorer. Not a bystander. Be a giver, not a taker.

True sacrifice is seen not in what you give up but in what you gain, and in loving the people God has put in your life you get Christ, and the abundant life that He has for us right now. And the abundant life that hundreds of thousands in our cities don't have a clue about.

Get your Bible. Read it. Experience Jesus in the Bible. Worship Jesus. And act. The book directly after the gospels is called ACTS. Not thoughts or ideas, but ACTS. Where is God calling you to act? Where is He calling you to move?

We have been called by God to go into our cities and point them to life. Use your time, money, and gifts for this end, the glory of God among the city and the nations. What could possibly be more satisfying?

If our God is for us...then who could ever stop us?

Spend time with people this week with the intention of telling them about Jesus Christ. Just do it. Our God is always for us.

for the city,
R.D.

Singleness, the Sufficiency of Jesus, and the Beautiful Woman at the Well

I have often tried to imagine the backstory of the woman at the well that Jesus encounters in John 4. What was her life like in the years leading up to her encounter with her Maker?

I imagine a beautiful Samaritan woman, a woman who once a little girl, growing up in a family, and perhaps hoping to get married and have a family of her own one day. Finally, the big day arrives, her wedding day. The day she will begin spending the rest of her life with her husband, a man who will love, cherish, and serve her. She has finally arrived, she has finally gotten to that "hallowed" day, her wedding day. There will finally be someone to tell her how beautiful she is.

The Samaritan woman's day at the chapel is only the beginning of what will become her greatest shame, attempting to find love, life, and identity in men. She goes on to get married again and again and again and again. Each time she gets divorced. The woman at the well is a woman whose sins are apparent, but she has not sinned alone. In those days, husbands divorced their wives, but wives did not divorce their husbands. If this woman was married and divorced five times, then five men divorced her. Imagine that? This woman has been passed around by five different men in her city, and now she is just living with a man, a man who is not even her husband. What must her self-worth be like? What must her feelings of contentment be like? What of her girlhood dreams of love and marriage and family? Here she sits, trapped with a man who won't marry her, and running from five men who have told her they don't want anything to do with her.

I imagine a woman battered and bruised by men, broken by the pain of failed relationships, and emotionally devastated by a life filled with heartache and self-doubt. When was the last time when someone told her she was beautiful? When was the last time when someone told her she had worth?

"Now Jesus had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (John 4:4-7)

It is noon, a time when few other people would be at the well because of the heat at this time of day. Most people come to draw water in the morning or night when it is cooler, and our Samaritan woman knows this. She doesn't want anyone else to see her, to be there when she draws water. Perhaps her shame is simply too much to bear. Jesus, however, stops at this well right at noon.

Jesus breaks all kinds of rules talking with this woman, and I imagine this woman was skeptical of this man talking to her. Another man who simply wants something from her, another man who wants to use her, just another man she might be thinking. But Jesus knows all of this woman's past, and today he is going to speak words of truth to her, words to free her.

This woman is thirsty, thirsty for so many things. Thirsty like we can be. Thirsty for contentment, for peace, for meaning, for a boyfriend or girlfriend, a wife or husband to finally satisfy us, to finally give us ultimate meaning, to finally fulfill us. We look for everything and anything to satisfy us, to give us meaning, to give us hope. IF ONLY I could get that THEN I would be happy is how we often think (how i often think). Perhaps our water girl at the well was searching for her contentment in men, in marriage, in relationships, and hoping that with each new man she might get closer to being truly content. And yet over and over again she gets thrown out and let down, each time she is more and more broken and more convinced that nothing out there can truly satisfy her thirst.

Jesus tells her "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." The 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." (John 4:13-15). And there it is. Jesus offers her living water and the woman yearns for it. THIS is what she has been searching for! This living water, this water will finally satisfy her. But, just as Jesus offers her this hope he exposes her deepest shame.

"Jesus told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." I have no husband," she replied.Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The 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." (John 4:16-18).

BOOM. Jesus exposes her sin and her shame. Can you imagine the pain gripping our water girl's heart at this moment? And yet Jesus does this to contrast His living water with her water, water that only keeps her in shame and pain and discontentment. Jesus reveals Himself to her as the Messiah. He is the one she has been waiting for. He is the great prize, the great hope, the great peace. I wish I could have seen the Samaritan woman's face in this moment when she realized who this man was.

Finally, our Samaritan woman is drinking from the well that will satisfy her, that will bring her joy, that will tell her how beautiful and worthy she is. In fact, this woman becomes the first evangelist in the gospel of John. And because of her many people come to believe in Jesus Christ as the One who can ultimately satisfy them.

As people, whether single, dating, or married we are constantly searching for that thing will satisfy us, that will quench our thirst. Sometimes we find this in money, or a job, or a relationship, or a hobby, and perhaps for a time that "thing" does satisfy us, but eventually we will hit a wall and have to move on to our "next husband", we will have to move on to something else that we hope will do for us what only God can. There is only one well, only one person, only one relationship that will never leave us wanting more.

Is Jesus sufficient for you? Is He more than enough? Is He where you find your sense of self-worth?

The woman at the well, had a radical encountered with Jesus, and could finally believe what she always hoped was true of her. That she was unbelievably beautiful. Jesus had told her so.

Jesus + nothing = EVERYTHING.
R.D.