TUESDAY 28th
NIV (42) – ‘They said to the woman, We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.’
ESV (42) – ‘They said to the woman, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.’
We continue with the same verses today as yesterday.
After the woman from Samaria had returned to the town and told the folk about meeting the Christ, it says in verse 30, ‘They went out of the town and were coming to him.’ The account breaks there as Jesus and the disciples have a conversation, (vv31-38) then verse 39 says that many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the woman’s testimony. All of us who are born again, saved, whatever phrase we want to use have a testimony, perhaps some of us who have been brought up in a Christian environment too often think about other individuals who have been saved from an awful life of crime, or addiction etc. and then compare what we were to them and think wow, what a testimony they have. But we too have a testimony, we all have a testimony that is worth sharing. For regardless of our upbringing, whether in a Christian environment or a non-Christian environment we were all sinners, all utterly depraved and heading to a lost eternity, But Jesus met with us, for me it wasn’t at the side of a well, it was on a wooden pew with sticky varnish in a tin Church building, but at that moment I knew I was a sinner, condemned, who needed saving, and I gave my life to Jesus. But that is only a part of my testimony, that happened 51 years ago, and my testimony has continued in that as I was saved by grace I have also been kept by his grace. And what God in Christ has done for each one of us is worth sharing, worth talking about.
There is an older hymn, which we used to sing a lot when I was growing up,
‘I love to tell the story,
of unseen things above,
of Jesus and his glory,
of Jesus and his love;
I love to tell the story,
because I now it’s true,
it satisfies my longings,
as nothing else would do.’
Do we love to tell the story, yes, perhaps to each other who are already born again and already know the story, but what about those who need to hear, just like the people of the town from where the woman in John 4 came from, so the people of the towns where we live, they also need to hear. May God help us to be more willing to share the good news, to gossip the gospel.
By the way, recall yesterday I mentioned the free coffee, I have had my free coffee, but guess what? It was not long afterwards that I wanted another coffee or tea, the ‘Costa’ only satisfied for a short while, but, thank God, the ‘Living Water’ I received 51 years ago is still satisfying and will do for the next however many years I’m spared and throughout eternity.
Finally, the verse for today says, that the towns folk also believed, not just because of the woman’s testimony, but because they had discovered for themselves. We pray that many will yet believe because we will have shared our story, but also many more will yet believe because they will have discovered Jesus for themselves.