Brave Enough

The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, "Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did!"... John 4:28-29

When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, He was weary. He was hungry. And He was thirsty. So was she...

She was weary of the judgement of others. She was hungry for acceptance. For someone to see her for who she really was and still consider her worthy. She was thirsty for more than the water she had come in search of. She was thirsty for truth in her life.

But she was also afraid.

She was afraid to endure the judgement from the other villagers during the daily gathering at the well. She was afraid to brush shoulders with those who saw her for who she really was and didn't accept her. She was afraid to face the people who knew the truth about her life.

So she went to the well alone, at noon, when no one else would be there.

But Jesus was there. And He actually spoke to her. Like she was a worthy person. He told her the truth about herself, like He had known her all her life. She didn't have to hide anything from Him. In fact, she quickly realized that she couldn't hide anything from Him. Yet, He spoke to her anyway. He accepted her anyway. He didn't judge her.

And she was changed.

By the truth that He was the Messiah. By the truth that He knew the truth about her, and considered her worthy in spite of it. By the truth that He refused to pass judgement on her, even though, by all accounts, she deserved it.

She was strengthened. She was spiritually nourished with acceptance and truth. And she became brave.

Brave enough to face the truth of her life. To see her own sins, and then to see past them, to what Jesus saw in her -- worth. Value that she had never seen before because she had never been brave enough to see past her own sins.

Sometimes I make faith all about myself. I spend so much time and effort trying to change into the person I think God wants me to be. Trying to make myself better -- worthy. I set noble goals, but I realize they have a self-centered focus.

Scripture doesn't tell us that the Samaritan women went home and moved her boyfriend out of her house and cleaned up her life. It doesn't say that she worked to change herself, or to make herself worthy. No. She saw her worth in Christ, and she went to work for Him. Not herself.

She spread the message of Christ. She shared Him with her entire village. Deeply entrenched in her sins, she shared the victory over them, because she realized that a living a cleaner life didn't make her more worthy to share Christ. She was worthy because of Christ -- not herself. Not anything she did, or didn't do.

Lord help me to see my worth in You, not in anything I've done....or haven't done.

The Samaritan woman was brave enough to believe that God was looking for someone like her. A sinner. A failure at marriage. A failure at relationships. A failure at life....But someone who was willing to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Someone who was willing to share Him with the world in spite of her own shortcomings. In spite of her own failures. In spite of her own sins.

God was looking for someone brave enough to endure judgement from those who would refuse to see past her sins. He was looking for someone brave enough to face exclusion from those who would refuse to see her worth in Christ.

He still is today. He is looking for people like the Samaritan woman who will run to the world and share Christ in spite of themselves.

The Samaritan woman ran back to the village. To the same people she had been avoiding only moments before, and shared Christ. Scripture says her message was that Jesus had told her everything she ever did. Every time she spoke those words, it must have reminded herself, and those she spoke to, of all her many sins -- everything she had ever done.

But she did it anyway, because she was no longer afraid of their judgement. She was no longer hungry for their acceptance. She had found all she needed in Christ, alone -- truth.

Truth of her sins. Truth of her worth. Truth of her Savior. Their Savior. The Savior of the world.

The change in her must have been evident to them, because scripture says they streamed towards Christ. Because they too were weary, and hungry, and thirsty. They needed to hear truth for themselves. They needed to hear Christ speak to them, personally. And they did.

Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world."....John 4:42

They heard Him for themselves, because she was brave enough to share Him with them. We don't have to think that we must convince anyone of Christ's existence. We don't have to prove to anyone that He is the Savior of the world. Our job is to share Christ. To introduce others to Him. He will do the rest. He will speak to them, as He speaks to us.

Lord, help me to share You in spite of my own sins and to face the judgement that will surely fall from the lips of those who judge.

After the Samaritan woman left, but before the villagers arrived at the well, Jesus, refreshed and nourished from doing the will of God, told his disciples to wake up and look around because the fields are ripe for harvest.

The fields are still ripe. Souls are still waiting to hear. Your story. My story. Christ's story.

We don't have to live a perfect life to be used of God.

We don't have to clean up our own sins before we can be a witness to others.

We just have to be brave enough to share Christ with those around us.

That is the gift of faith in us.

(Journey: John 4:1-45)