Monday the 7th

John 4: 17-18

¹⁷"I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

 

Man, do I know how that woman felt! She did not tell a lie….not by today’s standards. Really the answer she gave was more truthful than what other people might have said. The pain, the embarrassment, the shame….whatever the reason, she put out just enough information to move the conversation forward, but not enough to show her true self. Withholding information is just as much misdirection as an outright lie. While we might be able to get away with in the natural world from time to time, just like this woman, we will have a meeting with someone where the misdirection will not work, the Lord will already know the answer before He asks you. So instead of working on the cover story, maybe we should spend the time working on dropping the façade. Why would the woman not give out all the information? Well it sounds like she was the biblical version of Elizabeth Taylor…..not exactly bragging rights that you want to own! How does Christ treat this woman? Well first he lets her know that she is not fooling anyone, he knows her past…..but here is the beauty of it, Christ still offers the water of life. Here is Christ, a Jew, talking to a Samarian woman (a big no no for the day)….and not just any Samarian woman, a woman with a history. Yet here is Jesus holding out His hand and saying  ‘hey, I know where you are coming from, but I have a better future for you” That is how the Lord shows up in our lives. You think you don’t deserve it….think your past is to dark, to many transgressions to be forgiven? Maybe you think that there is just no way you deserve that kind of forgiveness. Let me let you in on something…..none of us really deserve it!  He does not care about your past, just your future. He knows where you have been, and he does not care. He wants you now, just as you are, scars and all. Where you are at today, right now, this very second….you are just what the Lord is looking for, and He has a huge future in store for you, all you have to do is accept the drink of life giving water. Christ has never been concerned with what the world says about anyone, he knows each and everyone of us, and he knows the beauty and perfection that we are capable of…..the scars and the history you have picked up along the way, that is nothing to lie or be misleading about. Those dark spots that you went through made you who you are today. Make today the first day, the first day that you don’t feel the labels that the world has put on you, let today be the first day that you decide to live as a child of God… We all have a past, but we all will not have the same future.

Peace,

Brian