John 4:1-42
By Rev. Roger Wiles
I was walking in downtown Raleigh with my son one day. As we past the courthouse steps I notice a number of homeless, sick, and poor people on the steps. Like most people, I made sure not to make eye contact. I moved as near to the street as possible to avoid the smell. Then I picked up the pace to make it difficult for anyone to ask me for money. As I got farther down the street I looked back for my son. He was kneeling down talking to some of those people I had just so skillfully avoided. When my son caught up with me, I asked him why he had stopped? He said, “Dad, no human being deserves to be ignored.”
In John 4:1-42, Jesus went to Samaria and encountered a woman living in sin. She had come to draw water in the heat of the day. She was an outcast from her own people. She seemed surprised that anyone, much less a Jew, would speak to her. Yet, God in the flesh engaged her in conversation around her daily routine of drawing water from a well. He told her of an “. . . everlasting spring of water welling up to eternal life.” To which she responded, “Sir, give me this water . . ..” The woman believed. She told others. Many in her village said, “. . . this man really is the Savior of the world.” Indeed!
When was the last time you went to a place out of your comfort zone, to speak to someone not like you about the saving grace of God, that they might believe in Jesus and be saved? Sadly, for too many of us the honest answer is “never.” Set your heart to tell someone about Jesus today!
By Rev. Roger Wiles
I was walking in downtown Raleigh with my son one day. As we past the courthouse steps I notice a number of homeless, sick, and poor people on the steps. Like most people, I made sure not to make eye contact. I moved as near to the street as possible to avoid the smell. Then I picked up the pace to make it difficult for anyone to ask me for money. As I got farther down the street I looked back for my son. He was kneeling down talking to some of those people I had just so skillfully avoided. When my son caught up with me, I asked him why he had stopped? He said, “Dad, no human being deserves to be ignored.”
In John 4:1-42, Jesus went to Samaria and encountered a woman living in sin. She had come to draw water in the heat of the day. She was an outcast from her own people. She seemed surprised that anyone, much less a Jew, would speak to her. Yet, God in the flesh engaged her in conversation around her daily routine of drawing water from a well. He told her of an “. . . everlasting spring of water welling up to eternal life.” To which she responded, “Sir, give me this water . . ..” The woman believed. She told others. Many in her village said, “. . . this man really is the Savior of the world.” Indeed!
When was the last time you went to a place out of your comfort zone, to speak to someone not like you about the saving grace of God, that they might believe in Jesus and be saved? Sadly, for too many of us the honest answer is “never.” Set your heart to tell someone about Jesus today!