Spirit – Pastor Pushie
It’s time to let go of the excess baggage that slows you down and hinders your progress, Pastor Pushie Watson urges
Last month I shared how Jesus had to leave Judea and go back to Galilee; but the Bible says He needed to go through Samaria. However, this was a spiritual not a geographical need. The Jews despised the Samaritans, and often travelled east of the Jordan River to avoid Samaria and its inhabitants who they saw as an impure race with a defiled religion. And yet Jesus made a detour to specifically stop at a well – a place of significance – where physical and relational needs could be met.
As Jesus was resting by the well, He initiated a conversation with a Samaritan woman who had had five husbands, and was on to a sixth. This woman was obviously thirsty in more ways than one. She reminds him that Jews don’t associate with Samaritans, let alone a woman. He offers her living water. But she sees that He has nothing to draw with and the well is deep. So where can you get this living water?
She is the one with the water jar. She can’t fathom how anyone without a water jar can access the well, as it is so deep. Her confidence was in the water jar, and it seems logical. And yet not everyone holding a water jar is fulfilled. She knows the satisfaction she derives from her water jar is short-lived as she constantly returns to the well. One of the worst feelings is an insatiable desire for something you cannot contain. When you desperately want something but don’t know how to get or maintain it. When what you’ve been doing is not working, and all of your efforts produce results that are only temporary, at best. Still, if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you will get the same result.
Jesus says, ‘If you drink from this well, you’ll be thirsty again. But if you drink from the well I give you, it will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ For He is the Living Water. So in one conversation, Jesus addresses her physical needs (thirst/body), her emotional needs (relationship/ soul), and her spiritual needs (eternity/spirit). Because we are tripartite beings; spirit, soul, and body, sometimes we try to use one thing to cover up the void in the other. Having more husbands did not fix her need for love. And the more lonely she felt, the more she tried to fill it with relationships, and I believe the more relationships she had, the emptier she felt.
Eventually she got to a place where she had come to the end of herself. She was tired of trying to live life her own way and to figure it all out. But sometimes letting go can be harder because we like to be in control. Works are frustrating because it’s our energy trying to do God’s job. It will wear you out. She said, ‘I know that the Messiah called Christ is coming. When He comes He will explain everything to us.’ And Jesus said, ‘I am he.’ Immediately she dropped her water jar.
I don’t know what you’ve been carrying that’s not working. Sometimes in the journey of life we pick up excess baggage that only hinders our progress and slows us down. Perhaps it’s time to drop the anger, the low self-esteem, the bitterness, the lack of forgiveness, jealousy, and revenge. It’s been making you heavy. Everybody can see it. It’s getting in your way and making you act out of character. You don’t need it anymore. It doesn’t even suit you. It’s holding you back, slowing you down, and delaying your progress.
DROP IT!
The Bible says, leaving her water jar, she went back to the town and called all the men to come and see Jesus. She knew where to find them. But God doesn’t judge her. He uses her good and her bad. Everything in life was either a blessing or a lesson. But everything that you’ve been through can still be used for the glory of God. You would think that when Jesus wanted to evangelise an entire town He would go to the synagogue and use a priest. But instead He goes to the well and chooses a sinful woman. I don’t know what your past is. I don’t know what you’ve put your confidence in. I don’t know what is holding you back. But the Bible says that many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of her. When you drop your issues, you will pick up your assignment. When you leave your pain, you’ll pick up your purpose. But you cannot carry both. It’s time for you to drop your excess baggage and soar into your destiny. Happy travels. God bless you. – Pastor P
One of the worst feelings is an insatiable desire for something you cannot contain.