There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. -John 4:7-30
So last night at church, Brother Cutler was preaching on the woman at the well - how Jesus saw her need and even though she was an unclean person, according to Jewish law and customs, he was willing to reach out to her because he knew that her true need was of salvation. He also talked about her leaving her pot to go and tell the men of the Jesus she just met. That really stuck in my mind, so I wanted to do a devotion about this. First, in sticking with my theme of being free from the bondage of food, I want to talk about the water that Jesus offers that will supply all of our spiritual needs. I've heard people on diets say, "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels." While that's a good image to have in your head to keep you working toward that goal of being thin, I think as Christians, we could say that nothing tastes as good as the water that Jesus can supply us. This is what I've been working on. When I hold that second helping of whatever, I look at it and say 'does this taste as good as what Jesus can give me?' Always I'm reassessing. My goal in this is to glorify God and be a good testimony of His strength and glory. I'm not saying that you sit around all Ghandi-like and make a big show of fasting and act like it's a holy experience. I'm saying that each bite you take should be in a prayerful manner. Ask God to help you assess if what you are about to eat is the right thing for your body and the right amount. It's like drinking a big glass of water before a meal, so you feel fuller and don't eat so much. You're drinking God's water. When you're full of the Holy Spirit, you're too full to overeat.
Now, on to leaving your pot behind: The beautiful image of this Samaritan leaving her pot behind is showing us that we need to leave our 'pots' behind, at Jesus' feet. We need to leave all that baggage that draws us to overeat - that painful childhood or that past that haunts, the sins that just seem unforgivable, the low view of self-worth. This isn't a self-help sort of talk. Our worth is found in Jesus. It's not about just cutting back on food. We need to actively pursue a satisfaction in Christ. We need to know that our God is a big God and we are very small and only by His power and grace do we have any victory in our lives. We need to pursue His bigness so we can be reminded of our smallness and our reliance on Him. Just like the woman at the well, who left her pot behind and went to tell others about the Messiah, we need just drop the baggage and get on with the Lord's work.
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