Well. . .a deep subject

Well. . .as my husband always says: “well is a DEEP subject”!  Today I was reading in John 4 about Jesus and His encounter with the woman at the well.

John 4: 6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." 11 The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" 13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." 15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." 16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." 17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly." 19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."

Most of you have read this story many times and I know it holds many vantage points.  Today I am going to use it to discuss the deep well of our own “issues”.  In this story we see Jesus make an offer.  “Come to Me and I will give you a wellspring of life”.  (Angela’s paraphrase).  The woman is interested and asks where to get this water.  Jesus now does something interesting; He digs deep into her “well” by asking a personal question.  He knows this woman has an ongoing issue with the men in her life.  He knows she is not married.  He knows there is an empty well here that needs to be filled with Him. . .the Life Giving Spirit.  The woman responds as most of us would when confronted with one of our deepest issues.  She changes the subject.  She shifts from the question He asked and the offer He presented to a discussion on worship.  He has jut offered her a well of ETERNAL LIFE but she can’t deal with the conflict, exposure, pain, etc, surrounding her empty well. 

Aren’t we all the same way?  We all want the good stuff.  We want life everlasting and world without end, amen. . . But are we willing to allow the Lord to expose our weak areas, our addictions, our pain, our emptiness?  When He brings these things to our attention, do we change the subject? 

I work with clients all the time who have food addictions they want to cover up with the next diet trend.  They don’t want to “deal” with whatever has caused the addiction in the first place.  (Subject change please, let’s put a band-aid on that gaping wound and move on to something else.)  Nothing in our life can change unless we answer the hard questions the Lord asks us, whether our empty well is a food addiction, anger, lust, adultery, etc.

I have the honor of speaking at First Baptist Canyon on November 8^th at 6:30pm in the ministry center.  The topic will be “Overcoming Food Addiction” but the principle applies across the board.  Hope to see some of you there.

John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."

Poverty to Greatness

 

 
Have you ever felt like you were on a swinging pendulum?  That’s the kind of weekend I had.  Yesterday I was able to share with several groups about the Isaiah Challenge during some Navigator Poverty Training seminars.  I got to listen to a new friend of mine speak with earth shaking passion about the needs in my local community.  I heard about families that don’t have soap to bathe with, much less running water for a hot shower.  I heard about a “lazy” father who gets up at 2am to catch a 3am bus to drive him to his 5a.m job so that he can provide for his family.

So the pendulum then swings to Sunday morning church.  My pastor is doing a financial series.   “Earn all you can; Save all you can; Give all you can.”  It is a great series.  He is speaking to a room filled with middle to upper class people.  We all ate a hot breakfast.  We all took a hot shower.  No one caught a 2a.m bus.  We all have on our “Sunday Best”.  Our Pastor challenges us in our giving.  He says that God would not have us save all we can to hold it in our “First National Trust Fund” forever. . .we might as well be throwing it into the sea.  God gave us HIS finances to steward for HIS KINGDOM.  Our Pastor challenges us to give God our very best.  My mind wandered to our local food and clothing outreaches.  How many times have I gone through my closet and donated the things that I never wear.  You know, the old stuff that’s out of fashion.  Of course I then pat myself on the back for giving it instead of selling it in a garage sale.  What if I gave my best?  What if I decided to “clothe the naked” with my brand new pair of designer jeans instead of my old faded throw-aways?

Pendulum swings again.  Now I am teaching a Sunday school class.  Not just any class, but the Crusaders.  The Crusaders are all between 70-90 years old.  This group of people is called “The Greatest Generation”.  I talked to them about Noah who was called a “righteous man”.  I talked to them about his descendants.  One of which is named NIMROD meaning rebelliousness.  NIMRODS domain is Babel.  A city of people who wanted to build for themselves; they wanted a kingdom; they wanted a lofty tower.  I likened the “Greatest Generation” to Noah; and NIMROD to my generation.  We are filled with self.  We have ipads, iphones, fancy cars, closets filled with clothes, and rich indulgent foods, we sit in houses with re-fridgerated air!   When we are depressed we take medicine.  When we want something we charge it!  So I asked our “Greatest Generation” to pray for us.  When the Great Depression came they pulled together.  They ate beans and moldy potatoes for months.  Some of them walked miles to get food for their children.  When neighbors were in need, they shared what they had.  This is the point when I saw the pendulum move back to center.  God gave me an “ah-ha” moment.  The weekend all ties together right here in the center of the pendulum.

“The Greatest Generation” was named so for a reason.  Most all of them understand what it means to be in poverty.  They lived it!  What brought them from poverty to greatness?  They understood the message my Pastor wanted to get across today.  Give to those in need!  Give out of a generous heart.  Don’t hoard things here on earth.  Store your treasures in heaven.  That attitude brought my grandparents generation out of the Depression and into Greatness.  Can that happen for us?  If you are participating in the ISAIAH CHALLENGE I want you to consider if you are sacrificially giving your best.  Have you been giving up your sodas so that a child can have running water again?  Have you taken a meal to that family whose daddy heads to work at 2a.m?  The ISAIAH CHALLENGE is about much more than physical weight loss; it’s about becoming spiritually healthy.  Moving our mindset from NIMROD into NOAH.  I challenge all of you to give out of your best and not out of your leftovers.  That is what will move us from spiritual poverty into spiritual greatness!

Sit With The Rabbi

Today in my bible reading I came to the story of Mary and Martha.  This is one that seems to stump many people.

Luke 10: 38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."

We see Martha diligently serving; doesn’t the scripture teach us that, “the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven is the servant of all” ( Matthew 9:35)?   So what is going on in this story?  I certainly can’t claim to solve all theological questions on this passage, but this is what the Spirit spoke to me on this subject.

  Let’s start with one of my classic “health” metaphors. 

At the gym I see all sorts of crazy exercise going on.  I see women who are barley lifting more than a feather worth of weight (totally ineffective).  I see men who are lifting so much that they are out of alignment and in serious danger of injury (such as a back injury or torn rotator cuff).  I see people working muscle groups in random order without an ounce of method to the madness.  These are all people who have great INTENTION but will get very little results and very likely do more harm than good.  Why?  They need to take the time to have someone instruct them!  (Might I recommend a TRAINER!!!)  Listening to and following the instructions of a good trainer will get the results you are after.  How much weight can you handle?  Are you set up in proper form to prevent injury?  Have you arranged your workout in a way that it is effective? 

Okay so let’s put that into our story of Mary and Martha.  Martha is the person in the gym who is trying to do things on her own.  Her motivation to “work-out”, AKA serve; is correct.  BUT Martha has not taken the time to first listen to a good trainer (aka Rabbi, aka JESUS).  Mary has remembered what comes first.  Sitting at the feet of her Rabbi.  He knows how much weight she can handle.  Have you ever felt overwhelmed and bogged down?  Perhaps you are carrying weight you were never intended lift on your own.

Matthew 11: 28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

A trainer is there to give you a “spot” when the weight get’s too heavy.  Isn’t that also what our Great Rabbi does for us? Perhaps your life is out of alignment.  How will you get things back on track if you don’t first take the time to sit with your Rabbi and listen for His instructions.

Proverbs 3:6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

 Perhaps if life feels out of order and chaotic then you need Him to bring order so that what you are doing is effective.  When the earth was without form and void, the Spirit of God began to bring order to the chaos. 

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

The same way a trainer brings “order” to an ineffective workout, the Lord brings order to ineffective things in our life.  If life feels too heavy, out of alignment or ineffective, learn to sit at the feet of your Rabbi.  THEN you can serve and be effective in life.