There's something beautiful about watching someone who's been genuinely changed by Jesus. You can't shut them up. They can't help but tell people what happened to them. Today we meet a woman whose shame was transformed into a mission.
John 4:28-29 "So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 'Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?'"
Picture this: A woman who had been hiding in shame, coming to the well alone at the hottest part of the day to avoid the stares and whispers of the townspeople. But after her encounter with Jesus, everything changes. She leaves her water pot - the very thing she came for - and races back into the town she'd been avoiding.
Here's what's amazing: there's no conversation where Jesus negotiates with this woman. He doesn't say, "Okay, if you want to experience the forgiveness I offer, you're going to need to go tell at least five people about me." There's no deal-making here. This is the logical response of the redeemed. People who taste satisfying Living Water do not keep it to themselves.
We see this on an earthly plane all the time. "Come check out my new car, come see my kid's honor roll certificate, come see what satisfied me." But this woman has tasted something infinitely better - Living Water that has satisfied her soul.
Notice what she says: "Come see a man who told me all that I ever did." Previously, if anyone had tried to bring up her past, she would have hissed like a serpent: "Don't talk about my past, don't talk about my present, you don't know who I am!" But now she's the first to tell you everything. She's transparent because she's grateful.
She didn't understand everything about theology - neither do you need to. She wasn't speaking as a theologian; she was speaking as a witness. She understood that Jesus saw every single detail of her life, knew her sin, knew her shame, and offered her grace upon grace upon grace upon grace.
This woman now races back into the town that she had previously been trying to avoid and begins to grab by the collar the same people she was hiding from. Jesus had taken her shame and given her a mission.
1. Has your encounter with Jesus made you want to tell others about Him, or are you still trying to keep your faith private?
2. What shame or past failures are you still letting define you instead of letting God's grace transform them into a testimony?
3. Who in your life needs to hear you say, "Come see what Jesus has done"?
Stay dialed in,
Jonny Ardavanis