DECEMBER 5, 2012
Barriers
And Blessings
Read: John
4:27-39
Many . . . believed in Him because of the word of the woman who
testified,
“He told me all that I ever did.” —John
4:39
What
did Jesus see when He looked at the woman at the well in
John 4? He saw someone
who wanted acceptance and desperately
needed to know she was loved. Most of
all, He saw someone who
needed what only He could give—a new heart.
It
was no accident that the disciples had all gone to town to buy
food. Surely,
they would have tried to warn Jesus not to talk to
this person—a woman, a
Samaritan, and someone with a bad
reputation.
Not
being one to follow protocol, however, Jesus used this encounter
to bless her
with the truth of “living water” (John 4:10). In just one
conversation, He
broke down barriers of old hostilities, of gender bias,
of ethnic and racial
divides. And this woman became the first of many
Samaritans to confess that
Jesus was the Messiah (vv.39-42).
When
she told others of her encounter with a Man who knew “all
that I ever did,” she
was already practicing the principle of “sowing
and reaping” that Jesus was
teaching His followers (John 4:35-38).
Many believed that day, and later
Philip, Peter, John, and others
would preach in Samaria and lead many more to
Christ (Acts 8:5-14; 15:3).
When
we tell others of our own “encounter” with Jesus, we bless
them with living
water.
From sinking sand He lifted me,
With tender hand He lifted me;
From shades of night to plains of light,
O praise His name, He lifted me! —Gabriel
A faith worth having is a faith worth sharing.
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
