How He Loves You and Me

I read the story of the Samaritan woman again this morning. She’d come to the well outside of town to get water. At the same time, Jesus was sitting wearily by the well, waiting for His disciples to return with lunch. When the woman approached, He engaged her in a discussion. If it’s been a while since you’ve read the story, why not do it some time today. You’ll find it in the fourth chapter of John’s gospel.  Here is the section that caught my attention, beginning with verse 39:

“Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”

And now for the question that has threaded its way through the millennia since this story was written down for us:

Why do you believe that Jesus is the savior of the world?  Why do you believe He is YOUR savior? Because your parents told you about Him? Your pastor or priest? A teacher? You read it in a book?

Those are wonderful ways, of course, to be introduced to the savior. But isn’t it important that we go to the next level – to know Him personally? To meet Him for ourselves? To talk with Him ourselves?

You might remember the chorus by Merle Haggard, whose lyrics now come to my mind:

“I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on roses; And the voice I hear falling on my ear, the son of God discloses – And He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own, And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”

Christian, how often do you walk with Him and talk with Him? How often do you hear Him talk with you about sin, and forgiveness, and repentance, and compassion, and the need for daily conversion? How often are you alone and quiet enough with Him to hear Him tell you, “You are My own”? The Samaritans first heard about Jesus from the woman who’d met Him at the well. But when they actually met Him, and talked with Him, they believed in Him.

Oh, how God longs for you and me to come daily into His presence. How He yearns to walk with you and talk with you in the quietness of wherever it is you can be quiet.

Oh! How He loves you and me. And oh, how He wants you to know, you are His own.