By: Katja Michael
Jesus answered [the Samaritan woman], “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
Wow...how many songs of praise lift up the "living water"? It's a thread of our faith, of what Christ can share with us all. The thirst that Jesus is expressing is an expression of the Father's love for us and His thirst for us to be close to Him.
When we do mission work, we see those around us who are in need... those who are thirsty. There are those who are sick, those who are lonely and those who are in pain. When satisfying such thirst, we also satisfy our own thirst. When we experience the living water that quenches our thirst, we do the same for those who are in need of faith that everything is going to be alright. We all hear the promise that Jesus makes: "whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst." The refrain from “Living Water” by Vision2b drives this home for me:
Living water, pouring out of me.
Release this life, so they can see
Newness of life, of love and hope we sing
Souls will be saved, and eyes will be opening,
Living water… where it all begins
You won't live without, when he lives within.
Water is the necessity of not only our mortal lives, but also our spiritual and never-ending life. It's a part of the Eucharist... just a few drops. It's a part of our Baptism, sealing us each as God's own. It's cleansing. I drink from the well and am cleansed with the promise. Every time I forgive a wrong, find joy in a sunset or do one kind deed, my thirst is drowned with the magnitude of God's love for me.
Come and drink from the well. Share the living water. Share the joy of Christ. Come to the fountain and testify to the joy, comfort and LOVE that our Savior brings us. Just like “Come to the Fountain” by Needtobreathe:
Come to the fountain and
Let me hear you testify.