Living Water
As Jesus spoke with the woman at the well He said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” [John 4:10] What is the “gift of God” He referred to? It “is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [Rom. 6:23] Had she known what to ask for, Jesus would have given her living water, that is eternal, abundant, and spiritual life.
Jesus continued by saying, “Whoever drinks of this [well] water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” [John 4:13, 14] Only the life that God gives will satisfy. All other life is ultimately unfulfilling. It is a mistake to think He was just referring to salvation because He had much more in mind. The life He gives continues on after salvation like a spring continually producing life in us forever.
On another occasion He said, “‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.” [John 7:37-39] When we drink the living water by believing in Jesus He puts within us the Holy Spirit who will give us divine life, the very life of Christ. This life will fill us and flow out of us like a river, affecting everyone around us.
Why are many believers not experiencing the fulfilling and overflowing life of Christ? The fact of the matter is that we should be. It is easy to imagine Jesus asking us a question similar to the one He asked the woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that lives within you, you would ask Him, and He would fill you to overflowing with divine life.”
