Sharing Thoughts by Susan Russell
As Christians we are supposed to love people and win them to Christ. In order to do that, we really must be able to see them as Jesus does. The woman at the well in Samaria testified that the One she has met told her all about herself. He not only told her that she had five husbands and the man that she currently was with was not her husband, but her self-knowledge was greatly increased by her encounter with the Messiah. What did Jesus see when He looked at her? We know that she came to the well in the heat of the day when the other women were not there. Did they taunt her, refuse to speak to her, gather up their skirts and leave the area when she approached? Perhaps they did none of these but she felt more comfortable drawing water when no one was around. Was she bitter or hardened by life, or was she just hurt? We do not know the circumstances of her having had five husbands. Did one of them die? Perhaps one or more had been cruel to her, perhaps she was a battered wife or she was extremely difficult to live with or then again one of them just walked away.
She seemed to be a person who wanted someone to be with, after all, she is trying for the sixth time. We know that she had some religious knowledge, she tried to throw up a theological smoke screen so Jesus could not look at her life too closely, and we know that she had a hunger to find the living water. Jesus did not condone her lifestyle but He gave her hope. He saw a lost lamb.
What did it mean to the woman to look into the face of Christ? According to the Bible a Jew would not have anything to do with a Samaritan, to say nothing of a Samaritan woman of dubious repute. Here was a Jew, sitting in the hot sun, talking with a woman who even her own people avoided. Gradually she came to sense His great strength, kindness, justice and love and He was able to bring her to the place where He was able to tell her He is her Messiah. How wonderfully her life was changed when she came in contact with His love.
If we are to introduce people to Jesus, first we must know Him ourselves, then we must be patient as they put up their defensive smoke screens. But when they are able to see the beauty of His face, they will no longer be able to resist His love. They will know that they too can partake of the Living Water and find new life. They too can go on their way declaring, "Come see a man who told me all things that I ever did: is this not the Christ? John 4:29.
Susan Russell
As I said on Sunday, Jesus showed us a radical kind of love. It is a love that is willing to go into the trenches and sit with us as we dig ourselves out. It is a love that rejoices when we are happy and cries when we are crying.
I pray you know of love today. Open your hearts to Jesus Christ. Feel Him anew. If He was able to bring the Samaritan woman to the living water, He can do it for you.
Have you seen Jesus my Lord - Enjoy this group
I really liked their singing.