Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. (John 4:13-23)
Over the next four days we will focus on the Discipline of Worship. We will continue our theme of considering the Disciplines through the lens of love.
Making a strong connection between love and worship should not be very difficult. What is more difficult is to rescue worship from traditional church divisions based on style preferences and from limiting worship to the confines of church services and concerts. As we consider this Discipline we will seek to come back to the heart of worship as a songwriter has said. Again, our deliberation will be based on some powerful passages from the Bible; the first being an excerpt from the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (see passage above).
As always, Jesus gives us the greatest insights on the Disciplines. Please prayerfully read the passage and answer the questions below.
Today’s Questions for comments:
- What is the essence of what Jesus told the Samaritan woman about worship?
- How does this inspire you to practice the Discipline of Worship?
Make this entire week a special week of worship (recognizing God’s worth).
