(stories taken from Tony Evans’ book – “The Kingdom Agenda”, pgs 116 & 124.)
A preacher was on an airplane
sitting next to a young man who was wearing his wedding ring on his right
hand. After some small talk, the
preacher mentioned to the young man that he was wearing his wedding ring on the
wrong hand. “Not at all!” he
replied. “I simply married the wrong
woman.”
When God joins a man and
woman, the two are right for one another.
Each has some learning to do before their marriage becomes all God has
in store for them. And only by
following the owner’s manual for marriage – the Bible – can a couple learn the
right lessons in the right way and make their marriage stronger and more vibrant
as the years pass bye.
Marriage was designed for a
lifetime, as a testimony of God’s love for His church. And while our marriages will not survive
beyond our lives in these Earth suits, God’s love for His church will never
end.
Likewise, when God calls a
man to walk with Him – to become a disciple – there is the same owner’s manual
to follow; there is the same faithful, unchanging love of God for His chosen
ones. And there’s the same human heart,
continually wandering from the Owner’s proscribed path of righteousness.
Sometimes what God’s Word
tells us to do doesn’t make sense. We
elevate our “wisdom” above that of God’s.
We must know Him well enough – by studying the Bible – to trust Him even
when our flawed power of reason tells us to go another way.
A man once became lost in the
desert. His throat was parched, and he
knew he wouldn’t live much longer if he didn’t get some water. Just then, off in the distance, he saw a little
old shack. He made his way to the shack
and found a pump inside with a jug of water sitting next to it. He reached for the jug, took the lid off to
take a drink – only to find this note taped to the jug: “The pump will give
you all the water you need. But in
order to prime the pump, you must pour in all the water from the jug.”
This man had a dilemma. Should he drink the water in the jug and
then be out of water and perhaps unable to get more, or should he believe the
note and use the water he had to prime the pump? He began to think through his choices. “Suppose I pour all my water in the pump and nothing
happens? I not only lose the water, I
may lose my life. On the other hand, if
there is a well underneath this pump and I use the water to prime it, I can get
all the water I need.”
In John chapter 4,
Jesus told the woman at the well that He could give her living water, which
would quench her spiritual thirst for eternity. He is the source – we must trust Him and follow the instructions
in the “note” He left for us.
The world says to grab all
you can. Jesus says to be anxious for
nothing (Philippians 4:6) and do not work your life to become
rich (1 Timothy 6:6 – 11) and to give people more than they ask
for (Matthew 5:40 – 42).
Your flesh tells you the world is right – that Jesus’ words apply to
someone else at another place and time.
You just drank the jug and
will soon be thirsty.
To never thirst again –
spiritually – means to live as “obedient children” (1 Peter 1:13 – 16)
and seek to follow Christ in all you think, say, and do. When the world looks bleak and foreboding,
fear not – your Creator has left you a note with Godly wisdom just for you in
this time and circumstance (1 Corinthians 10:13). Follow the owner’s manual and you’ll never
thirst again.
There are two aspects of this
meeting at the well. Our obedience
keeps us satisfied, spiritually; and our disobedience leaves us dry &
parched, spiritually. But we will never
be without the water of life, because Christ Himself makes His dwelling place
in the heart of every believer.
Thirsty? Turn to the well that
cannot run dry.
All too often, we look at
problems in life from the wrong – i.e.: human – perspective. Everything physical is preceded and
superceded by something spiritual. If
you have a temper problem, you won’t solve it by trying to modify your
behavior. You‘ve got to get to the
source – an ungrateful heart. If you
lust after other women, you may save your life by modifying your behavior, but
you will only resolve the problem by getting to the source – an ungrateful
heart. A proud, thankless heart allows
the enemy to build up spiritual strongholds in your life. Strongholds too strong and well defended for
you to succeed by storming them. A
humble heart, one that is thankful to God for all He’s done will be drawn to
Him, away from the strongholds of sin.
Only by submitting to Christ Jesus will the spiritual strongholds in
your life and mine be conquered – not by your might or my will power, but by
the power of the Holy Spirit of God living in every area of your life.
Many times we mess up
because, in looking at our circumstances and problems from a human point of
view, we go about it all wrong.
A teacher who wanted to teach
her class a lesson got a big vase and put some rocks in it. Then she poured in gravel to fill in around
the rocks. Then she poured in sand to
fill in all the tiny spaces that remained.
Then this teacher asked her
class, “You saw that I put in rocks, then gravel, and then sand. Do you know why I did it this way? The lesson is, if you don’t put the rocks in
first, you’ll never be able to get them in later.”
This is how it works in the
spiritual realm as well. If you don’t
take care of spiritual things first but fill your life with gravel and sand,
when you need the rock of Jesus Christ, you’ll have too much junk in your life
to fit Him in anywhere.
We need to take out all the
sand and gravel and put the Rock in first place. Then we can enjoy whatever God sends to fill in the
crevices.
Living as a disciple means
putting Jesus first and follow Him.