This post is in reference to the sermon Michael Mears preached at CCF last night. It was based out of John 4 and the time when Jesus met a Samaritan woman at the well.
To summarize, Jesus shows the woman the difference between normal water (life that the world offers) and living water (life which Jesus offers). He showed her that while the things of this world might satisfy you or make you happy for a moment, you will always be left thirsty. But the water and life that Jesus offers will completely satisfy, and that well will never run dry.
Michael used this, and verses from Jeremiah, to make the analogy of the toilet water of the world vs. the living water of God. We go to what is easy and simple and sinful in this life, but those things always leave us needing and requiring more. Our thirsts are never quenched, but we settle for it all the time because we either don’t know that there is something better, or we just don’t have the patience or trust to pursue what is better. Michael referenced a C.S. Lewis quote from his book, “Weight of Glory”:
“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak.
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
While he was preaching, it reminded me of a ski trip to North Carolina I went on with the Navigators in January of 2001. Over the MLK weekend that year, about 40 students and staff went up to Boone, NC for some skiing and road trip fun. Being from Wisconsin, and having to live with 6-8 months of snow each year, I didn’t really realize the possibility that many of my friends had never even seen snow before. They had grown up in Florida all of their life, and snow seems to be the one thing that doesn’t travel across the country to visit Florida every year.
It was interesting on the drive up as they would start to see snow on the side of the road, or a patch up on a hill, and their eyes would light up and they would take out their cameras to snap blurry pictures of random snow piles. But the thing that amazed me, and what was brought back to my memory last night, was what happened the next morning before we left for the ski hill.
A friend of the ministry had allowed all of us to stay at their large house for the weekend. We got in fairly late that first night, but for some, as soon as morning hit, the excitement level rivaled Christmas. They put on their winter clothes, whether that was actual snowpants, sweatpants, or just jeans and ran outside to play in the “snow”.
I put snow in quotation marks because for the 2-3 weeks leading up to our trip, the temps were in the 50s in Boone, NC. I knew that this would melt most, if not all, of the snow in town, but the skiing would be fine because they would have been making their own snow throughout the winter. So, I wasn’t very surprised when I went outside to see junk patches of snowbank and ditch snow, which Northern people will instantly recognize as “bad” snow. It has hard, dirty, crystallized chunks and in sparse patches, and shouldn’t even be classified as snow.
Yet, my Florida friends grabbed some sleds from the garage and were trying to slide down the slope of the yard which was only covered in a light layer of frost from the night before, just to crash into the junk snow at the bottom of the ditch. They seemed to be having a blast, and it was the first, and hopefully only, time that I’ve seen someone get grass stains on snowpants.
I was shocked, and was trying to tell them to stop and wait and explain how this isn’t, and shouldn’t be, fun. It was only going to be maybe 2-3 hours before we’d all be at the ski hill with real snow, and have a genuine ability to throw snowballs at each other, instead of the dirt-filled ice chunks that were flying through the air at the house. I knew that there was something better out there if they just waited. If they could just trust, there was better snow, more enjoyment, and greater fun to be had than with the current things they found themselves playing in.
As Michael taught how Jesus is desiring for us not to settle for the junk in this world, for ourselves, or for those around us, I realized how quickly and readily I wanted to tell people to stop playing in the fake snow, but how reluctant I am to tell people, especially myself, to stop playing in the fake life of the sinful aspects of the world.
God offers us that same unlimited source of life and joy that he offered the woman at the well in John 4. Any sense that we have of God putting restrictions on our life or saying, “Don’t do this/Don’t do that”, is simply because there are much better things for us to enjoy and pursue. I want to know Christ and enjoy his living water, but I need his help to turn away from the toilet water. That help can come from the Bible, or time spent in prayer, but often comes from my brothers and sisters in Christ. I also want to be used as an encouragement to others to know and love and desire Christ more deeply. The journey may be long and hard, but the destination will be totally worth it.
And so this makes me think even further, when God says, “Don’t do this.” Am I upset I was told not to do that or am I listening for what he says I CAN do? ‘Cuz He’s just as willing to deliver us news of what is good and right and still enjoyable within the wide scope of His sovereignty. Cool! Thanx for the helping the synapses fire a little more Scott.
Great post! thanks for sharing Scott:)
This is a great post! I was just reading about broken cisterns today with one of the women in our ministry. How easily we settle. Thanks for posting:) You are great writer, Scott:)