Life Spark: There are two kinds of water that give two kinds of life. John 14:11-14
I read about a study funded by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2011. A panel of experts in psychology and economics gathered to try to define a reliable measure of human well-being. Maybe the national total of well-being could be GNW – ‘Gross National Wellness.’
When you ask a person, “How are you?” a common answer is “I’m doing well, thank you.” Their ‘well’ is an adverb. It’s how they’re doing. Sometimes ‘well’ is a noun, a place of life-giving liquid.
Jesus had a divine appointment with a woman at a well in Sychar. She was there in late morning. It was probably hot. The well was deep. Drawing life-giving liquid from the well took effort, but it must have been worth it.
Jesus asked her for a drink of water, the kind of water that enables biological (terminal) life. He reminded her that she had to come to this well over and over, and He told her that a special kind of water was available from Him, water that would quench her thirst for aliveness.
“ … whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14, NIV
“Never thirst.” Sounds appealing. Where do we pull hard on the rope to draw aliveness to ourselves? There are so many kinds of wells. Banks. Offices. Factories. Entertainment. Recreation. Relationships. Approval. Sex. Food. Drink.
Christ spoke of a zoa-life spring. Unlike a well where you have to draw, a spring is artesian. The water anxiously makes its way to the surface. It bubbles and gurgles and overflows. What a great picture of perpetual satisfaction, of having something deep inside that is so alive it pushes its way to the surface, where it overflows.
With that deep, perpetual kind of aliveness inside (and bubbling over outside), when someone asks you how you are today, you could say … “I’m well. Artesian well!”
A life-challenge: When someone asks you today, “How are you?” say “I’m well. Artesian well.” If they ask you what you mean, tell them about John 4:11-14.