Repentance

The Messiah and the Samaritan woman

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well (Photo credit: Lawrence OP)

The Samaritan woman found Jesus (the Messiah) in an unlikely place (at the side of a well). Her brief but historic meeting with Him would forever change her life. She was so overwhelmed that she left her water jar by the well and went back to the town to spread the good news. “Come; see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”

John chapter 4:7-26, tells us that Jesus was resting by the side of Jacob’s well one day; after a long journey from Judaea to Galilee, when a Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”

The woman was shocked that a Jew was asking a Samaritan for a drink. Back in those days Jews and Samaritans (Gentiles) did not mix. Gentiles were considered unclean and unrighteous.

The Samaritan woman who was more concerned about tradition than about helping Jesus with a drink of water, said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?”

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God (the gift of God is eternal life), and who it is (the Messiah) that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

“I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, He will explain everything to us.”

Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am He.”

The moral of the story is; the gospel of Jesus Christ knows no boundaries. It is for anybody who will accept it.

Do you hunger and thirst after Righteousness?

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).

As you navigate your Christian journey, you’ll face trial and tribulation; partly because you love Jesus and partly because the enemy is upset that he has lost a prized possession. He will use every trick in the book to win you back, and if you are not careful, you will be right back where you had started—living in sin.

It is very easy to get distracted in today’s world. Lifestyles are presented in magazines and on television that seem so appealing. And the enemy will entice you with “the good life”—money, cars, clothes; glitz and glamour. But if you know who you are and what is your purpose in Christ, the tempting pursuit of such things will not attract or entice you.

However, as you press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. You’ll need fuel to sustain you on your journey. That fuel can only come from your inner hunger and thirst after the righteousness of God. The more resolute you are in your quest for the prize, the more you’ll seek to know Him .

Your daily hunger after God brings great joy to His heart. He celebrates your every step of obedience to His Word, your every response of faith to His leading, and your every expression of wonder for His ways with you. He delights in your pursuit to know Him more, in your desires to enjoy Him more, and in your longings to love Him more.

As you hunger after Him, you will find that His banqueting table is always full, that His portions are more than generous, and that His hospitality is beyond compare.

To hunger after Him means that you will never go away empty or dissatisfied. In Him are a thousand delights, a limitless supply of eternal joys, and an endless amount of spiritual blessings.

Beloved brothers and sisters, I hope when everything has been said and done, you will say with confidence, as the apostle Paul did:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

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Jesus is the only Mediator you’ll need

“There is one God, and one mediator, between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus“(1 Timothy 2:5).

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglica...

Image via Wikipedia

A mediator takes the hand of one party and places it into the hand of another party. A mediator is someone who has one primary aim, and that is to bring peace to a broken relationship.

Most of us are aware of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, between Israel and Palestine. We also know that over the years the United States have delegated several peace mediators to sit down with both parties to try to work out a compromise; but to date no one has been able to take the hand of one party and place it into the hand of the other.

Jesus Christ is your representative to God, and He is God’s representative to you. He does not have any hidden agenda—He has your best interest at heart, and He is a genuine mediator. As your mediator He presents your need of mercy to God, and as God’s mediator He extends God’s grace to you. “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

Jesus Christ is the only mediator that you will ever need, for He is the One whose sacrifice on the cross at Calvary for sin completely satisfied the demands of God’s justice and holiness. The only one that you should allow to come between you and God is His Son, Jesus Christ. “Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).


What’s the benefit for enduring hardship for Christ?

Holy Spirit Stained Glass

“If we endure hardship in His name, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us” (2 Timothy 2:12)

There are many blessings that belong to those who endure hardship while carrying out the work of Jesus Christ. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” (Matthew 5:11). Some of those blessings are for now and others are for later. The grace and joy that are yours in the Holy Spirit are an important part of your present blessings. As wonderful and precious as these blessings are, the future blessings are quite astonishing.

So, as you press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, brace yourself to suffer affliction from those who oppose Christ. Affliction is a very real part of every believer’s journey here on earth. Affliction includes anything that brings difficulty, tribulation, persecution, or trouble because of your love for Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells us that the early believers celebrated when they were persecuted for their faith. That response is possible because there is an amazing grace that God gives you when you walk through affliction of any kind.

It is a grace that provides you with an inner joy even during the hardest of times. This joy is produced by the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who puts within you everything you need to endure. The apostle Paul say best in 1 Thessalonians 1:6: “And you became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit:

Beloved, as you continue to faithfully serve, irrespective of your circumstance, the One who reigns over all, you will one day join Him and reign with Him when He returns to establish His kingdom here on earth. Think of it, you will actually reign with the One who now reigns over you.

What a glorious future is ahead of you. No wonder the Bible declares, “What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later” (Romans 8:18).

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God holds your future in His hands

“He that spared not His own son, but delivered Him up for us all, How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

There are a thousand reasons why you should trust God with all your heart, but just knowing that God sent His Son to the cross to die for you, is reason enough. Since God allowed His only begotten Son to suffer and die an agonizing death upon the cross so that you could be forgiven, How could He ever fail you in any other way?

 If you can trust Him for your eternal destiny, how can you not trust Him for your entire earthly journey? Will not the One who is preparing a place for you in heaven take care of you while you are on this earth? The God who holds your future is the God of your daily peace, your daily joy, and your daily bread.

God holds the future in His hands

Dread not the things that are ahead,
The burdens great, the sinking sands,
The thorns that o’er the path are spread,
God holds the future in His hands.

Refrain

God holds the future in His hands
and every heart He understands.
On Him depend,
He is your Friend,
He holds the future in His hands.

We know not what tomorrow hides,
Of sun or storm or good or ill;
We only know His dear hand guides,
And He will be our Father still.

Refrain

His hand created earth and sky,
The zephyrs and the storms that rage,
And years to come and years gone by
To Him are but an open page.

Refrain

Live close to Him and trust His love,
Assured that while on earth we roam,
Whatever may come, He bends above
To guide His children safely home.

Refrain

James Rowe (1866-1933).