A River Flows In You
God gave us instructions on how to live in community so that we would love our community like Jesus.
“If there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”
Exodus 21:23-25
God brings order to the chaos of our lives and desires to bring structure to relationships. At the time this was written there was not a set standard that would help create healthy boundaries in the community. The idea was that if someone did something wrong there would be an acti0n to make things right.
Unfortunately, sin can twist even the best intentions. What was meant to bring about order in many ways brought about offense and judgment. The laws were given to bring peace and freedom. A challenging question could be if you have any offense in your heart? Is there anywhere in one of your relationships where you feel like you are owed eye for an eye or burn for burn and you have not released the healing balm of forgiveness?
“As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts all day long— though I know not how to relate them all. I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.”
Psalms 71:14-16
The fulcrum word in this song is saving. It is the word in which all the other words hinge. It bears the weight of these verses. God came to save. His acts, His works, His deeds are done that salvation could come.
Do we use the same standard? Are there times where you find your mind drifts into modes of judgment of others rather than how you can help bring healing to them?
“Many claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person who can find? Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin”?
Proverbs 20:5-6, 9, 12
Solomon asks a profound question. Who can claim to have unfailing love? Consider how fear, doubt, worry, anxiety, guilt or shame can creep into our hearts and impact how we love other people. Jesus wants to set us free of the way our culture teaches us to love so that we can experience His unfailing love in our own lives so that out of a place of abundance we can pour out that love to others. Perfect love casts out fear.
"They have become rich and powerful and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not seek justice. They do not promote the case of the fatherless; they do not defend the just cause of the poor.
Jeremiah 5: 27-28
Truth tells us that perfect love seeks out ways to help those who need help. Our love is not just for ourselves or our friends and families. The world around us needs the love God wants to flow through us. It does not take much looking to see we have people in our world who are not experiencing justice, who are down on their luck, who are experiencing the pain and pressures of financial hardships.
Who can you support beyond your social circle? Where would you be willing to advance the kingdom through how you love the outcasts, the hurting, and the needy?
“So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?”...Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”...Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem...a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he...Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
John 4:5-7, 9-10, 13-26, 32-34, 39, 41-42
What a beautiful story. This is the healing that Jesus brings to each of our hearts and to all who will believe in Him. He takes an outcast who was living separated from God and helps her awaken to the reality that she was made to be a great evangelist. She did not go to seminary, nor serve in church, nor follow all the rules. But, she encountered Jesus and out of the redeeming love she found, she sought to bring that love to the community that had rejected her.
How easy it would be to judge the woman at the well and for her to have offense against a judgmental community. An eye for an eye would say the woman could never find her way back to right standing with the people or with God. We don't even know her name. But, Jesus did and Jesus saves. This story is an incredible example of the great commandment to love God and love others with everything you have.
How will we respond to the truth that Jesus loves everyone and desires all would be saved? How will it change my words, actions, and attitudes as I live out the call to follow Jesus? Will it produce in me a heart that desires to share the living water I have received and the bread of life that feeds my soul with others? Will my heart overflow with the love of Christ to those in need of Christ? Just like the woman at the well, you are made to make a difference by sharing your story and telling of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.