The Water Of Life

“Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”
John 7:38 (NLT)

I walked into the kitchen to be confronted by a pool of water creeping across the floor towards me. “Oh No,” I groaned. “The washing machine outlet pipe must be blocked again.” I rushed upstairs to grab some old towels to soak up the water before looking for the source of the leak. This time I discovered it was the cold feed tap to the washing machine that was leaking profusely in spite of being turned off. I phoned the plumber but he couldn’t come immediately, so I had to resort to turning off the mains supply to the house to prevent further flooding on the kitchen floor. Then I had to turn the mains on again to quickly fill several buckets with water to flush the toilet and to fill flasks for drinking water, before turning the water off again. “This is so inconvenient,” I moaned. “I need my water supply.”

How easy it is to take water for granted. It’s an amazingly versatile product. Physical life quickly dies without life sustaining water.

Jesus drew on this aspect of water in His teachings. In John 4 (NIV), we read that Jesus was resting by Jacob’s well in Sychar, when a Samaritan woman approached to draw water. She didn’t enjoy the luxury of tap water in her home. Collecting water from the well was a physically hard and demanding daily chore. Jesus asked the woman for a drink. She was surprised by the request because Jews didn’t mix with Samaritans.

In John 4:10 Jesus says, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.” Continuing in verses 13-14, he says, “Everyone who drinks this water (from the well) will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Revelation 21:6–7 (NIV) explains, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To all the thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”

Next time I need to switch off my water supply, instead of complaining, I will see if I can focus on God’s free flowing water of eternal life.

Prayer
Thank you, Father, for teaching us spiritual lessons from the physical creation. In Jesus’ name.
Amen

Study by Diana Hall

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About the Author:
Diana Hall attends the Southampton Congregation of the Worldwide Church of God, UK.

Local Congregation:
Worldwide Church of God Southampton
Tauntons College
Hill Lane
SOUTHAMPTON
SO15 5RL

Meeting Time:
Saturday 11:00am

Local Congregational Contact:
Peter Noon
Email:  peter_noon@wcg.org.uk