God Gold of the Day
Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? 12 And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?” Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.” /// John 4:10-15
When I was in high school I was always one of the taller guys on our basketball team but guys smaller than me would be dunking. No matter how hard I tried my hops just weren’t there. I jumped so high you could barely slide a piece of paper under my feet! I know, impressive right? I wanted to dunk so bad but I couldn’t figure out what I needed to do to get there. For awhile one of the dumber things I did was I found some ankle weights laying around the house. I started wearing them all the time and if I was sitting, standing, you best believe I was doing some calve raises. I was sold that wearing them was going to get my vertical up so I could dunk but after awhile of wearing them, I went in the gym and no surprise, I was still short. So at that point all I had was a Velcro rash on my ankles from wearing those things so much but no results. I didn’t know what to do next and honestly wanted to give up but thank goodness somebody told me, “dude do you jump rope?” I was thinking “well I used to in elementary school when we did jump rope for heart lol. He told me to jump rope and do line drills which is pretty much the same thing. I didn’t have a lot of hope, I felt like I was always going to be held back from throwing one down but I tried it anyways. Went back in the gym after a few weeks of jumping rope, just jumping all the time and that was it. I was playing pickup at my church, I picked off a pass and nobody was in front, I went up like I was going to try and dunk knowing it would probably hit the rim and everybody would laugh saying nice try. When I jumped I got a lot higher than I thought I could, while I was up there I did it! I finally dunked. I turned around jaw dropped, stunned and I think the guys I was playing with were just as surprised.
When looking at these verses where Jesus is telling this woman about living water, I couldn’t help but think of that experience and that memorable scene from space jam where Micheal Jordan went up from half court to dunk it, it was looking good until the Monstars grabbed on to him, holding him back from dunking it. But he kept stretching his arm out, kept reaching even when it looked impossible because the monsters were so big and weighed him down. But at the end of that play, he dunked on the monstars and the looney toons won the game.
So what does all that talk about dunking have to do with living water? Jesus tells this woman that if she knew that she was talking to the Son of God, the Savior of the world, then she would ask for living water. She then responds in such a human view, the well is too deep, you don’t even have tools. I just thought about situations and struggles in my life, how often do I realize the opportunity in front of me in my relationship with Jesus? How often do I keep my eyes set on how deep my well is or how bad my problems and not realize that Jesus gives me living water to handle those situations and even more have victory over them? It’s hard when when no matter what we try or how far we reach out, dunking and overcoming our circumstances seem impossible. What makes it even harder is when I look for all my answers and solutions in my strength, my tools the world gives me to the point that I trust way more in me and the resources of this world than trusting in the only way to truly dunk and have victory over what’s in front of me.
Living water is what Jesus promises this woman and when she hears that she is jacked up saying, “yeah I’ll take 10 cases!” Jesus explains it to us by comparing it to regular water, or the things we put our trust in to solve our problems whether that ourselves, a substance, anything that the world offers. He says when we put our trust in these things of the world or even ourselves, we’ll always be thirsty. It’s like wearing the ankle weights, it seemed like a good idea for a short time, seemed like a quick fix to my problem but do we really want a quick fix? Then always end up falling a few inches short of deliverance. The living water Jesus promises comes from Him and him alone, only He can supply it, only He can give us the satisfaction and victory we truly seek. And His water isn’t just a quick fix or temporary solution, it gives life, a lasting life, filling us for eternity. It’s Jesus and just Jesus. Only He can supply us with what we need to fight these battles we face. Even when it feels like the hits keep coming from every direction, you’re constantly being weighted down by the failure, insecurity, and doubt making this Monstar size problem bigger and scarier than ever. Jesus gives us living water, everything we need and then some to be strengthened, have peace, joy, and hope knowing that no matter what comes my way I don’t have to look to all these horizontal answers because my only answer and life, is vertical in Christ.
I don’t know where you’re at right now with your relationship with Christ or even if you don’t have one. I don’t know how many battles you’re facing each and every day that have you feeling beat and discouraged. I do know that I have struggles too and one of my biggest ones is letting go of myself and things of this world to truly embrace the power, love and faithfulness of the Savior. It’s a hard life and we’re always going to have tough times, we’re always going to fail, but the good thing is that we don’t have to live off regular water because we have the Son of God by our side. Constantly showing us and giving us everything we new to handle and live in victory over every and any battle we may face. It doesn’t matter how deep your well is, Jesus will bring the water to your life to the point of overflow. All we can do is put our hope and trust in Him and the gift of this living water. Embracing Him in every way we can whether through the Word, talking to Him in prayer, just looking to Him above all else. It’s a long tough road to get to dunking but keep seeking and sipping, Jesus has promised us living water. They are going to have to replace the goals before Jesus gets done because the dunks are going to be coming in hot.
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