Life and Peace- Part 4
“…the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:2-11
When Jesus met up with the woman at the well, He knew about how she was currently trying to fill her life. (John Ch. 4) For her, it was relationship overload. How are we filling up our lives? Where do people go to fill up? We probably won’t sit at a well and evaluate where a person is spiritually but we’ll go to department stores, gas stations, gyms, restaurants, grocery stores, work places, churches, etc. where we’ll meet up with others who may be experiencing the same emptiness as that woman. There are plenty of people needing water, needy of Jesus and what only the Spirit supplies. When we’re full with the right things, there’s a peace that comes over us. This is a satisfaction we all long for in our inner being. There’s something about somebody who’s really thirsty. If I were to hand a physically thirsty person a big glass of water, they wouldn’t care if it got all over them as they drank or how their gulping sounded. Truly thirsty people have a look about them. Their agenda and dialogue becomes all about the WATER!
A few months ago, my husband installed a miniature water fountain beside our sink. We had been buying bottled water only and were ready to make the change since the new filtered water tasted so good. Our boys were use to just grabbing a bottle of water anytime they needed it but now they had to wait for it. I literally handed them a cup for the first few days and said “this is all you do…hold it under the water fountain and wait.” You can get your water supply for the whole day. Before, we were limited and now we have an endless supply. Jesus had a solid purpose for meeting up with the woman at the well that day and He’s got a solid purpose for meeting up with us. We are guilty of passing right by the living water. Later we are exhausted, unmanageable, irritable, miserable, and weary. Someone will be going to the gym today not necessarily needing another workout. A person will head to the mall not necessarily in need of more clothes. And many will get ready for church not necessarily needing another social gathering, song or sermon. The need will be beyond physical benefits. How many times have we gone to get a physical fix when we really needed a spiritual one? When we want more than clothes, a church service, or relationship…when we want the living water to fill us, we’ll get familiar with Jesus. Sure it’s okay to buy a new outfit, enjoy a workout, be at church whenever we can, and eat yummy food, but go to Jesus for (true) peace. Acts 8:14-16 navigates us through getting rid of bitterness and accepting God’s words and forgiveness. We invite the Holy Spirit in, get prayed for, baptized, filled. We wait until we are filled up.