Four Ways To Be Like the Woman Who Became a Well
Get it while it’s hot!
Grab it before it’s gone!
We all scurry along towards the tug of drinking in the next best thing.
I do it too. Why am I still so thirsty?
Our hearts are dry sponges. They seek to soak something into them that will deliver a sense of satiation.
I’m reminded about a story starring a woman at a well. Check out the details in John 4.
Jesus offers her magical water.
Shocked and surprised at his thirst-quenching offer, she decides to become a well.
How?
First: She began by sponging Jesus in.
Jesus created a safe and soft place to shower her with dignity and decency. He knew her sins and sufferings. She had tried to cure her thirst with six different men. Jesus still wanted her, even though he had every right to shame her. Grace oozed out of Christ and into the secret corners of her guilty, withered, exhausted heart.
How was she like a well?
A well bubbles up from below by means of its connectedness to deeper springs of water. Now that her heart was connected to Christ she was ready to share.
Are you connected to Christ? Before you can be the face of Christ in the world you must first soak in the shining approval of his face toward you.
Second: She leaves her water pot.
This action is intriguing. A water pot acts as a reservoir. It receives and captures water.
She leaves her water pot, darts into town and shares-- “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
How did this reaction resemble a well?
What does a well actually do? A well is not just a reservoir or receptacle of water. It is more like a gushing, babbling river.
A river receives water and shares it downstream.
Notice that she did not share a program or a church or an idea. These are all good things but she did not start with sharing these “water pots.”
She bubbles and babbles the words “Come, see a man…..Can this be the Christ?”
Maybe I act more like a stagnant reservoir instead of a rushing river because I fail to share Jesus. Do I want to share Metro North Church, Presbyterianism or programs more than Christ?
Those are all water pots. I need to leave them be and babble more about Jesus.
Third: She just could not keep Jesus to herself. She had to share him.
How is this like a well?
Did you know that a well will actually dry up if it does not get ladled out and shared with the thirsty?
When you drink Jesus, you simply cannot keep him to yourself.
John chapter 1 tells of Andrew meeting Jesus and then sharing him with Peter.
We always share that which slakes our deepest thirst.
Fourth: She does not say “Go and See” but instead says
“Come with Me.”
“Come with me and see.”
How is this like a well?
A well gently invites others to voluntarily lower their bucket and drink for free.
Just as Jesus was not pushy or pressuring with her, she expresses an invitational approach to sharing Jesus.
I’m an overly aggressive person when I’m excited about something I really love. I want others to love what I love…now!
A well waits. It bubbles and gushes and sparkles until a thirsty soul wants to drink.
I’m so thirsty. Christ is living water.
Will you leave your water pots next to mine and join me in becoming like the woman who became a well?
Pastor Howard
Senior Pastor
Metro North Church
