Living Water

Have you ever been so thirsty that you just couldn’t wait to get a drink of water? I think all of us have at some point in our lives. We get so busy, so distracted, that we don’t take proper care of ourselves.

When a person does not frequently replenish his or her natural body with water, dehydration sets in, and eventually death. It’s only possible to survive without water for a matter of days. Just as our natural bodies need water, our spiritual bodies do, too, and that comes from the source of the living water – Jesus.

One of my favorite moments in the Bible is when Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. She was an outcast who avoided others by drawing water during the most miserable time of day. She didn’t understand why Jesus, a Jew, would ask her, a Samaritan, for a drink of water.

He told her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10). “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14).

He could see the parched places of her soul and the brokenness of her heart. She had tried unsuccessfully to quench her thirst with the well water the world offered – the water of seeking love, men, and approval. Jesus offered her a well that never runs dry. She then dropped her waterpot, symbolically leaving it behind, so she could go into town and tell the news of Jesus.

 Jesus is the source of living water from which our souls can freely drink and be satisfied. This water is available to “whosoever will” (Revelation 22:17). Just as someone’s natural body can die from dehydration, if we don’t replenish ourselves spiritually, we can become weak and spiritually dead. It’s vital that we drink of the living water to replenish the thirst of our souls and remain spiritually alive in Him.

Satan aims to clog up our spiritual flow by putting sin in our hearts and to distract us by whatever means necessary. He wants to restrict the flow by using our weaknesses to build sediments of sin in our spring of water, to keep us from growing spiritually, and to get us to turn away from God.

By maintaining a relationship with Jesus, His water can always flow through and sustain us.  Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). Like the woman at the well, we must admit our sins and need for salvation, believe in Him, and remain in truth. A change must be made. She didn’t just pick up her water jug and go back to her old life. She drank the living water.