Daily Devotional for February 18

​

February 18                                                         John 4:1-26

       "The water that I shall give will become... a spring of
                        water welling up to eternal life."

Jesus meets the woman at the well, and he tells her everything
she's ever done. In this conversation Jesus promises the water
of life to the Samaritan woman. Water becomes the sign of
God's new and eternal life. The promise of Christ is that the
need or thirst of the human heart is quenched by Christ.

The second part of the promise is that this living water becomes
a spring in the believer's heart. The image Jesus gives is an
overflowing stream. It is an image of steady and consistent
sustenance.

A third part of the promise of the wellspring is this: It is not
to Jerusalem or some holy shrine that humanity must travel
to meet God; rather, the journey to the wellspring is inward.
It is here that God creates a place for each of us to return to
for refreshment and worship. True worship occurs deep in
the recesses of the spirit.

"But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers
will worship God the Mother and Father in spirit and truth
...." In the depth of the heart God reveals truth. It is to truth
that Jesus led the woman at the well, and it is to truth that
Jesus leads us, too. Only in allowing the Spirit to lead us to
truth do we find the refreshment of living water. As Jesus spoke
to the woman at the well, so Christ continues to reveal a way
to God not found in temples or journeys to holy places, but
rather in the holy of holies, the heart of the believer.

As we have avoided the truth, we have kept ourselves away
from worship and from God's promise of living water. I know
in truth that I thirst. Does your faith refresh you, or do you
thirst, too?

          God, I have studied many books and traveled to
      many churches, yet I have neglected to return to the
      spring you placed in my heart. I fear my well has run
            dry. Flood my soul with your spirit, wash my
                          barrenness away. I thirst.

​

From The Road to Emmaus - An inclusive devotional Edited by Joseph W. Houle

Emmaus House of Prayer - Washington D.C