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Living Water for the Thirsty
By G.G. Vandagriff
"But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." John 4:14
Christ is speaking in this scripture to the woman at the well in Samaria. As we examine this story in detail, we see several things. First, he was giving this promise to a woman who was living in sin with a man who was not her husband. He was begging her to come and partake of everlasting life. He knew her individually and knew her sins. In this same way, He knows us and our sins and shortcomings, but this same invitation applies to each one of us.
Second, He uses water as a metaphor. What is more necessary, particularly in a desert society, to sustain life? Water is as necessary to our mortal bodies as partaking of the embrace of our Savior through His atonement is to our spiritual lives.
If we are looking for that elusive source of abundance in our lives, here we find it, metaphorically and literally. Scientists tell us that most of our mortal bodies are composed of water. In ancient desert societies, such a Christ inhabited during his mortal ministry, the well was the center of the settlement, because water was the primary need. It had to be drawn daily, perhaps more than once. Christ first says to the woman in an earlier verse: "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." (John 4:10)
Can you imagine a greater gift than a well of living water springing up inside you, so that you would never thirst again? This woman was filling her "divine void" (the part of us that yearns for the love we once knew with our Heavenly Father) with immoral relationships. We see this everywhere today—people trying to find love to stop their loneliness, that great well inside that is never full. But, Christ tells us here, that we can partake of a relationship with Him and that we will never thirst! Our well will always be full. We need not look to addictions of any sort to fill it. Drugs, alcohol, excessive food, sex, gambling, money, power—none of these things are necessary to fill that empty place inside, only the "living water" of Jesus Christ.
Is there any greater source of abundance? In the desert, a promise of living water, was a promise of the greatest mortal need being fulfilled. That is why Christ used the metaphor. His "living water" has an additional property. It does for our spirits what water does for our bodies. In our lives, the metaphor offers us eternal companionship, a source of love that will never cease. We can embrace this source daily as many times as we need, and it will always be there. Not only that, but it offers us an eternal daily life with the Giver of Life. It is a promise no one else can make to us. It is ours eternally. We will never be empty again if we partake it by embracing the giver with all of our hearts.
Our thirst for love may be insatiable, but our Savior will never fail us. He is there for us, as He was for the sinbound woman at the well. Waiting for us to repent and come into his arms for an eternal abundance of love.
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