John 4:10 -- Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
Something jumped out as I was praying and reading over Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well. She's surprised and calls it out when saying, "you a Jew, would ask me a Samaritan woman for a drink?". What jumped out was how Jesus' reply to this draws her deeper into conversation by bringing her to the edge of her curiosity. When he says, "If you knew…" there are three things He makes her curious about.
- About things of God - "Gift of God"
- About who Jesus is - "If you knew who it was saying to you"
- About what Jesus could give her - "Living water"
Jesus doesn't come straight at her with a Holy Ghost KO punch. He doesn't argue with her about culture, politics, and religion. He doesn't try to explain Himself and why He is breaking all kinds of cultural/religious traditions by speaking with her. NO… He simply flips it back around to her, but then piques her curiosity and drives her to seek out the right questions. He essentially performs a simple course correction to her thinking. She's already focused on "You a Jew" and "me a Samaritan woman", but she's looking at the man-made surface level. She sees what her experiential beliefs, from the culture and religion, have painted on the surface of things. Jesus' draws her past that with how he replies.
It absolutely astounds me every time I slow down and just really watch and listen to Jesus. To see how He goes after people in the wildest of ways. We see Jesus later in John 8:33 say, "you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.". So, it is Truth that sets free, but we see Jesus bring people to the Truth (Himself) in so many different ways.
To be clear though, there is only one Way, one Truth, and one Light and that is Jesus. So, we do NOT see Jesus giving different paths to God, we see Him using diverse ways of bringing people to Himself, for He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
John 14:6 -- Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.
Christian, how are you approaching people with the Truth and Good News of Jesus Christ? Do you study Jesus in the Word to see how He does it? If not, why? Do you share the WHOLE Truth like Jesus does, even though it could cost you popularity? Even though many will turn away and some will even persecute you?
1 John 2:6 says if we SAY we abide in Jesus, then we owe a debt to walk as He walked, act as He acted. So, in the Word we find Jesus sharing the whole truth everywhere He went. Regardless of the consequences. Now, He did share it in many ways, but always leading to the same Truth, back to the same Jesus.
Well, this is where the adventure through His Word has gone today! One last thing to think about. Jesus made time to be alone with His Father. Beloved, are you making time to be alone with Him in prayer, in Word, and worship? If not… why?
You are loved. You are prayed over. You are not alone.
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