Having Enough Faith
So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, John 4:28
In the fourth chapter of the gospel of John, Jesus has an encounter with a Samaritan woman. This woman is a sinner by all accounts. A religious person should have nothing to do with her. Yet, Jesus goes out of His was to talk with her.
He (Jesus) was enroute to Galilee from Judea but went out of His way to sit near this well. Scripture says that He had to go this route, but if we look at a map we will see that this was not the way to go. Jesus had to go this way because He had to talk to this woman.
There are so many things that could be said about this encounter, but I want to focus on one small detail. Jesus told this woman that if she had asked Him, He would have given her living water - a well that produced eternal life. She would never have to thirst again because Jesus would satisfy her very soul.
When the disciples returned and saw Jesus talking with this woman, they questioned in their hearts why Jesus would be talking with this woman, and the women left to tell everyone about Jesus. Here is the amazing thing - when she left, she left behind her bucket. They very thing that was needed to gather water. The very thing that provided life for her, since without water one will die.
This woman had so much faith in Jesus and what He said to her, that she put her very life in His hands. She laid it all down and for Jesus. She was now counting on the well of living water that Jesus promised.
Do we have the faith of the woman at the well? Are we willing to lay it all down for Jesus, or do we keep back just a little bit? Do we have a safety net - some other way to draw water from the well, or do we put everything into the hands of the Lord?
This woman had no safety net. She was an outcast in town. There was no one who would go and draw water for her, yet she left her bucket and went to tell everyone about Jesus. Her faith in Jesus was now her very life. We need to be more like her.
