Day 266: Our Unconventional Move: Accepting Our New Beginning
Read: John 4:10 - 14
What did we ever do to get to where we are today? What did we ever do
to get this far in our lives? What did we ever do to whomever we did it
to to deserve our lots in this life? Why am I where I am now, mired
in one mud hole after the other? Is there somebody out there that so
desperately hates me that I am stuck for who knows how long wherever I currently am right now? Is this where I'm destined to remain through no fault of my own? I mean I did not really ask for this burden of circumstance to just enter into my home. I understand about hospitality, but is not that going a bit too far? Are there no new beginnings? And if there were, how could I even begin to accept it?
Ever have this kind of conversation with or about yourself? It is kind of a trick question in that I am confident we all have had it at one time or another. Out loud or privately, we have all definitely had this talk. If you haven't, I am equally confident that this talk is not as far from becoming a harsh reality as you may think. I guess I can say that in light of what was probably going on in the mind of the Samaritan woman.
To begin with she was a Samaritan, avoided by the Jews of that day at
all costs. If that wasn't going to be enough, she had been married,
divorced, widowed five times, she was now perhaps at a point in life
where she felt like giving up, her destiny is determined.
We
all mess up. We say things we later wish we could take back. We do
things we wish we could undo. We miss opportunities. This happens in all
spheres of our lives. Sometimes we make mistakes at work, sometimes we
hurt the people we love most, sometimes we just feel like we have even
disappointed God. We all feel like we have only one destiny and nothing
can ever change that. And because we all mess up, we all like to start
over - to turn our backs on the past, to look forward, to hope that this
time round, things just might get or are going to be better. We thirst
for newness in our lives. Yes, my friends we are all dying of some kind
of thirst for a new beginning!
What happens when Jesus enters the situation? He again defies conventional wisdom and He dares to talk to her. What a new beginning for her! What a new beginning of hope for us. Someone dared to get involved. Someone dared to defy our expectation that all destinies are set in stone. There’s something exciting about
the possibility of starting over - new challenges, new experiences, new
opportunities, new everything it seems! The next question is always
going to be hardest one - one that requires of us to make the next
unconventional move - of accepting our new beginning of life in Jesus
Christ? After a lifetime of feeling disqualified and unworthy, how do I
accept it?
Let Us Pray: Father, I thank you for the moment you
dared to meet me at the well and offered to me a love that I was sure I
did not deserve, was wholly unqualified to receive. Lord, so many of us
are so desperately thirsty of a new beginning, a new promise, a new
hope. Father in heaven, let me be blunt with you - some are feeling that wilderness experience a little too close to their hearts for
comfort. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, Source of the waters
that give life, giver of the Living waters, quench our thirsts that we
may never thirst again, let this life giving water become in us, by you,
through you, in you, a well of water springing up to eternal life.
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Read: John 4:10 - 14
What did we ever do to get to where we are today? What did we ever do to get this far in our lives? What did we ever do to whomever we did it to to deserve our lots in this life? Why am I where I am now, mired in one mud hole after the other? Is there somebody out there that so desperately hates me that I am stuck for who knows how long wherever I currently am right now? Is this where I'm destined to remain through no fault of my own? I mean I did not really ask for this burden of circumstance to just enter into my home. I understand about hospitality, but is not that going a bit too far? Are there no new beginnings? And if there were, how could I even begin to accept it?
Ever have this kind of conversation with or about yourself? It is kind of a trick question in that I am confident we all have had it at one time or another. Out loud or privately, we have all definitely had this talk. If you haven't, I am equally confident that this talk is not as far from becoming a harsh reality as you may think. I guess I can say that in light of what was probably going on in the mind of the Samaritan woman. To begin with she was a Samaritan, avoided by the Jews of that day at all costs. If that wasn't going to be enough, she had been married, divorced, widowed five times, she was now perhaps at a point in life where she felt like giving up, her destiny is determined.
We all mess up. We say things we later wish we could take back. We do things we wish we could undo. We miss opportunities. This happens in all spheres of our lives. Sometimes we make mistakes at work, sometimes we hurt the people we love most, sometimes we just feel like we have even disappointed God. We all feel like we have only one destiny and nothing can ever change that. And because we all mess up, we all like to start over - to turn our backs on the past, to look forward, to hope that this time round, things just might get or are going to be better. We thirst for newness in our lives. Yes, my friends we are all dying of some kind of thirst for a new beginning!
What happens when Jesus enters the situation? He again defies conventional wisdom and He dares to talk to her. What a new beginning for her! What a new beginning of hope for us. Someone dared to get involved. Someone dared to defy our expectation that all destinies are set in stone. There’s something exciting about the possibility of starting over - new challenges, new experiences, new opportunities, new everything it seems! The next question is always going to be hardest one - one that requires of us to make the next unconventional move - of accepting our new beginning of life in Jesus Christ? After a lifetime of feeling disqualified and unworthy, how do I accept it?
Let Us Pray: Father, I thank you for the moment you dared to meet me at the well and offered to me a love that I was sure I did not deserve, was wholly unqualified to receive. Lord, so many of us are so desperately thirsty of a new beginning, a new promise, a new hope. Father in heaven, let me be blunt with you - some are feeling that wilderness experience a little too close to their hearts for comfort. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, Source of the waters that give life, giver of the Living waters, quench our thirsts that we may never thirst again, let this life giving water become in us, by you, through you, in you, a well of water springing up to eternal life.
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