Living Water

“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did…” John 4:29

For years and years of my life I found myself in a cycle. I thought I had food problems, self control problems, body image problems, but the reality was my struggles were deeper than my relationship with food or my body.

I was trying to solve my food problems with food solutions when the root of the problem was spiritual, an issue of the heart.

Jesus was speaking to a woman he met at a well who had been married 5 times and was currently unmarried and living with another man.

Jesus engages the woman by asking for a drink, the woman shocked that he is speaking to her says to him “how are you asking me for a drink?”

Jesus answers the woman” if you knew the gift of God and who it is that us saying to you give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

Notice the past tense, Jesus knew her story. He knew she was chasing something men or another relationship couldn’t give to her. He knew every disappointment, every fear, every insecurity she struggled with. 

He wanted to help her out of that unsatisfying cycle.

Jesus continues, “ everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but anyone who drinks the water I give will never be thirsty again. “

The woman responded to him sir give me this water so I won’t have to keep coming back to this well! 

She was missing the point, she was thinking of physical water and Jesus was thinking of her greater need, her heart issue.

So, out of love Jesus exposed the root of her issue. He said to her, “ go get your husband and come back. “

The woman’s issue was her thirst for acceptance and security which she thought would be solved in another relationship with a man, like the way I tried to solve my issues with insecurity with controlling food or my appearance. 

Trying to fix problems with food often go deeper than modifying behaviors around food, it may start with determining what you are actually thirsting for. 

We all want the quick fix, the easy way out. Lasting change often involves taking an honest look at the motivations of our hearts.

The Good News is that Jesus is in the business of heart change. Just like he knew the woman at the well's story. He knows yours too. 

Jesus offers to give anyone who asks him, a relationship with him that’s satisfying, deep, and lasting (living water), he won’t leave you thirsty but quenches the most dry, desperate places inside your heart.