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Under strange circumstances, Jesus dropped one of His most powerful spiritual lessons. This truth was that no matter how low you may be in the eyes of others, you can actually have a gushing well of spiritual water flowing through your being at all times. He was taking a rest on a well in Samaria while his disciples went into town for meat. Jews were seldom seen in Samaria and Samaritans were not wanted in Jewish cities. There was long-standing hatred between the two groups. A woman came to the well to draw water and Jesus asked her for a drink. She was shocked. She said, “The Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” Jesus said, “If you knew who you are talking to, you could ask for living water.” The well from which she had to draw her water was very deep and she asked how he could draw his water since he had no well bucket. Jesus explained that he was talking about spiritual water and all she had to do to receive it was to ask for it. He explained what a powerful change this could make in a life. He described it with this colorful phrase: “It shall be in him a well.” Then he promised it would be so powerful it would be “springing up.” Keep in mind that he was promising this life-changing gusher of spiritual water to a woman despised by his race. He would have been hard pressed to find a single Jew who would consider her worthy of any kind of blessing. To add more disbelief to his offered blessing, the story reveals that she had been married five times and was living with a man she was not married to! In the words of one of my songs, “He didn’t come down here for angels, he left millions back at home; he didn’t come down here for saints, he left them singing around his throne; he came down for men just like you who think they’ve gone too far.” The disciples were shocked when they returned and found him talking to the woman. They asked, “What are you doing talking to her?” They are a type of the church, the actual leaders of the church. The church has always had a harder time accepting “unworthy sinners” than has Jesus. They were indignant that she would be offered the same gifts as they had freely been given. When she went among the Samaritans telling about Jesus, they asked him to stay and tell them more. It probably hacked out his disciples but Jesus stayed there two more days! There are those who will try to tell you that you must receive your spiritual water from the church. There are even churches that will not let you participate in communion if you don’t belong to their denomination. Jesus is saying just the opposite. You do not have to have your water rationed to you through the rituals of the church. You can have your own well and a gusher at that! There are those who will tell you the spiritual life requires pain and suffering. They make it so unappealing that many people flee from the whole idea of having a spiritual practice. Water was one of the most precious commodities in the land where Jesus taught and ministered. In using such a story about such a precious thing, he surely meant to say a spiritual way of life is as delicious and satisfying as a drink of water on a hot summer day. It has been my experience that living a non-spiritual way of life is much harder than living a spiritual way of life. There is nothing but rational and physical satisfactions in a non-spiritual way of life. Those very pleasures are enhanced and enraptured when your inner geyser sprays the joy of the Lord on them. Go for your own personal well.
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