Drawing of Love

It is a tremendous blessing to have at least one person in your life; you can totally trust. That one person who knows your deepest darkest secret and still loves you. That one person who knows everything about you and doesn't judge you because of it. To have that person in your life is truly a gift from God and should be greatly appreciated.

In John chapter 4, there is a story under the heading of The Woman of Samaria. The story is that Jesus, who was tired from His journey, took a rest at a well while His disciples went to buy food. As He was sitting there, a Samaritan woman who came to draw water from the well was greeted by Jesus, and He said to her "Give Me a drink,' and she to Him answered, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?' Jesus' answer to her was, "If you know the gift of God, and who it was who says to you, "Give Me a drink', you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." She then said, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where then do you get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his son's and his cattle?" Jesus then responds to her with "Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." The woman then says, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw." Jesus answering her, says, "Go, call your husband, and come here." She tells him that she doesn't have a husband, and He says back to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband', for you have had five husbands and the one whom you have now is not your husband; this you have said truly." This woman then, after hearing Jesus tell her that says, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Jesus again responds to her by saying, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father. You worship that which you do not know, we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews but an hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshippers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." She responds by saying, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ) when that One comes He will declare all things to us." Jesus then says to her, "I who speak to you am He."

This woman then leaves Jesus and goes back into the city and tells the men, "Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done, this is not the Christ, is it?" The men, upon hearing this woman saying these things goes to where Jesus is, and they end up staying with Him for two days- all because of this woman telling them what had happened to her. The Bible says that many more believed because of His word, and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is indeed the Savior of the world."

This story is unique in that Jesus, being tired from His journey, uses the drawing of water analogy to tell her about Himself and salvation. Here He is tired and hungry, yet He reaches out to a woman who was number one a Samaritan and second a woman with a past and tells her what He has to offer. He then used the truth of her life without judgment or condemnation to show her that he knows everything about her, which in turn makes her leave and tell others and, in the end, causes others to believe. They were all first drawn in by the fact that her life was made known, but upon being with Jesus themselves for two days, they chose to believe in Him based on the things that Jesus had said to them. This story also reveals God's heart again to us, in that He is always about drawing each of us in and not judging or condemning us. That even though He knows everything about us, He still loves us, and that is why He came to die on the cross for us in the first place. We need to remember, though, that other people can be drawn into His perfect love as well when we, like this Samaritan woman, are willing to tell our testimony of Jesus and what He has done for us. Just like in this woman's case, it wasn't about her being made to feel bad or guilty, but about him fulfilling the everlasting need in her life and the others as well, all because of her first telling others her story, and the same is true for us.

We have to understand that God knows everything about us, even the things that we have not yet done or said, and He still loves and believes in us. He wants Himself to be the resource of everything we need in our lives. For us to tell others of what He has done for us and then watch how the Holy Spirit will be able to draw others unto Christ because of our willingness to share.

Lastly, this story shows us that it only takes one person who is willing to share Jesus with someone who will eventually draw more people unto Him. It only takes one person, and that is what each of our lives should truly be about, isn't it- being that one willing person to draw others into the love of God?

From Gardens of Splendor by Gina Burns