John 4

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,

14 but 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.”

15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

As Jesus taught the Samaritan woman about the water of life she became understandably intrigued. The prospect of water that can bestow everlasting life is exciting. Who wouldn’t want this water? To put it in terms of finance, this would be like making a one time investment that continued to provide an everlasting return. Show me that investment opportunity and I will show you the money.

So the woman tells Jesus give me the water. Jesus gives a very revealing instruction to the woman. He says, “Go and bring your husband to me.” Why doesn’t Jesus just give the woman the water everlasting right then?

Jesus is about restoring our relationship with God, about establishing the Kingdom of Heaven through this relationship. God is relational. His plan is to establish life everlasting through relationships. This process begins with people being restored into a right relationship with Him and then transfers to the most basic human relationship; family. From there it expands outward through our other relationships. Jesus wanted to give the Samaritan woman the water but he knew that if he gave it only to her that it would be absorbed by the sponge of disunity created by bestowing the gift outside of the marriage relationship. It would pit the wife against the husband. ( Matt: 10 34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’;). Jesus fully understood the nature of His purpose and He did not want to bring division to the woman’s family. The account of the Samaritan woman at the well goes on to reveal the extent to which the woman’s family relationship had already become fragmented. The family here was in dire need of a refreshing drink of renewed identity and purposeful living.

Jesus wants to give each of us the water of everlasting life. He wants the water to bring unity through relationships though often it comes first as a sword. So what does this mean to us?

Since we have accepted Christ and given ourselves to the process of dying to our ways and living for Him, we have a “fountain of living water” springing up from within us. As it flows we become filled and then the water needs a place to go. We should direct the water to flow into our families. We do this by spending time serving them, by maintaining a healthy financial situation, by playing with our kids and showing our families how important they are to us, by doing the jobs around the house that need done and no one likes to do. Basically by dying to our own selfishness and living to meet their needs, we become living water to them. When enough of this water flows into our family it in turn becomes filled and the water needs a new reservoir to spill into. In this way we become a blessing to the world. It is in the overflow that the Kingdom grows and expands.

So if you are looking for an investment that will continue to provide an everlasting return you need look no further than at the people in your family. Invest in them, they are worth it and the Kingdom needs the blessings that will flow out of this!

A Special Thank You ...

Thank you Ms. Lily Susan Smid for allowing LifeSprings to display your art work, Angel Messenger, for a noble cause and inspiring weekly devotion.

About Ms. Lily Susan Smid Angel Messenger Artist