Jesus went out of His way to introduce a lost woman to
another kind of life-giving water. He deliberately chose to go to a town in
Samaria, a place where no respectable rabbi would set foot. There, He told this
woman about “living water.” Those who drink of it, He said, “will never
thirst.” It will “become in him a fountain of water springing up into
everlasting life” (John 4:14).
The living water is Jesus Himself. Those who receive
Him have eternal life (v.14). But the living water He provides also serves
another function. Jesus said of those who receive it: “Out of his heart will
flow rivers of living water” (7:38). The living water that refreshes us is to
refresh others also.
As fresh-water distribution is uneven in the world, so
too is the distribution of living water. Many people do not know followers of
Jesus who really care about them. It is our privilege to share Him. Christ is,
after all, the living water for whom people are thirsting.
God is a never-ending supply of
living water for a parched world. (RBC)
