Living Water

We are now in a period of warm, dry weather here in the UK, and it has made me appreciate anew the wonderful privilege it is to be able to turn on taps and be sure of fresh clean water coming out. Water is refreshing and it is life-giving. We can survive for a while without food, but we cannot survive for long without water.

Water is vital for crops and plants as well as for human beings, animals, and birds. I sowed various vegetable seeds earlier in the year and now have plants growing in the garden. I have been nurturing them and giving them much-needed water in the dry weather in anticipation of a harvest of vegetables in a month or so’s time. Without water, these plants will not bear fruit. While watering my garden, I have been thinking of the parallels between this and the living water that Jesus promises us, which gives us spiritual life, cleanses us, and enables us to bear fruit.

Today’s verse is part of the dialogue that Jesus has with the Samaritan woman at the well, when He speaks of the living water that He can give. Just as we need water for our physical bodies, so we also need this living water.

I realise that I often take the water in our taps for granted, without fully appreciating the gift that it is, especially when so many people in the world do not have easy access to clean water. Do we also sometimes take for granted the amazing gift of living water that Jesus offers us?

In John 7:37, Jesus says: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” There is a song we sometimes sing which has the chorus: “I need you, Oh I need you, every hour I need you.” Do we recognise our need for Jesus? Are we thirsty for His living water, which is the Holy Spirit? If we are, the promise is that we can come to Jesus and drink. When we do, Jesus says that streams of living water will flow from within us (John 7:38). This will bring refreshment not only to ourselves, but also to those around us.