I want to start this post off by saying I am not telling anyone to continually harass and argue with others about their stance and relationship with Christ – but I am. And the person you should be in confrontation with is you. This entire month we’re talking about the woman at the well, and today we’re discussing the art of “confrontation” that Jesus used when addressing the woman at the well. Second, let’s clear the air. People tend to tense up when you mention Christian and confrontation in the same sentence. This is unfortunate. Here is the precise definition of confrontation. It merely means to face or challenge. If you missed last week’s post of the series, click here for more context and backstory. Let’s get into it!
Why are we using Jesus’s method? As Jesus confronted the woman at the well, he spoke from a place of wisdom she was unable to obtain. He offered her freedom she has never had. Why? Because she was not yet filled with the Holy Spirit. As Believers, we carry the Spirit of God within us, so we have already been placed at an advantage. We can use Jesus’s method of confrontation because the Holy Spirit is present to guide us in all truth through this exercise. I’ve broken this method into 3 parts: Thirst, The Well & Living Water.
Thirst. The Well. Living Water. If you thought I’d be addressing the Elephant in the room, the woman’s 4 husbands, you were wrong. Come back next week, LOL. This week we’re discussing her state of being, metaphorically. The woman was performing a common task, drawing water from the well, to meet a need, thirst. Jesus offered her Living Water to quench her spiritual thirst because he saw a need beyond her visibility. Often, we relive that same narrative. Jesus has provided us an escape that will fulfill us spiritually, but we don’t always take it. Why? Because our thirst is normal. Everyone is thirsty, right? It sounds like this “I reacted that way because she made me upset – that’s normal,” OR “We just touched each other we didn’t go all the way – that’s normal,” OR “It technically is true, so I put it down on my taxes – that’s normal.” Thirst is normal. Thirst represents the sin in our lives that appears again and again and we live with it like it’s normal. Time to confront it. What is your “thirst”?
The woman stood at the well prepared to quench her thirst at a natural level but not at a spiritual level. From a spiritual perspective, this is a picture of how we make natural attempts to fill voids that only God can fill unknowingly. It’s giving in to the thirst to only be resolved temporarily. The well represents that all the intentional action and healing we do on our own and by the world’s standard is only a temporary fix. Jesus if offering the ultimate resolution – Living Water. What are you doing in your life right now that is only a temporary fix when Jesus is offering you living water?
Choose Living Water. The reason believers should live a life of inward confrontation is that we always have to be bold enough to allow the Holy Spirit to check us. We cannot get used to the normality of sin, and we cannot address sin at a physical level. It is not the life that God calls us to as his children. The woman at the well left fulfilled because Jesus confronted the thirst within in. Jesus will not meet us at our well, but his Spirit will. When his Spirit speaks to us, we have to hear, and we have to act on the solutions he offers. Stop gathering your water, trying to quench what you cant and take what Jesus is offering you. Go to God with your thirst and let him know you don’t want to thirst anymore.
Leave a Reply