Listen

The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have a bucket and the well is deep. Where would you get this living water? You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave this well to us, and he drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will never be thirsty and will never need to come here to draw water!”

John 4:11-15

Think

One of my seminary professors told my class we have two basic thirsts — to be known and to know what we are supposed to do. Most of our life’s questions boil down to these two questions:

Who am I?

What am I called to do?

Only God can quench our thirst for answers to these questions. If we seek the answers from our friends, family, magazines, TV, or social media, we will never feel satisfied and will need to seek for answers again. Only when we ask Jesus to give us our Identity (Who am I?) and Mission (What am I called to do?) do we feel that our thirst for answers has been quenched.

By turning to Jesus we discover, individually and collectively, that we are God’s beloved now and into eternity. We discover our purpose is to join in God’s mission of reconciling all people to God and one another. This identity and purpose never changes and will allow us to love others with the same mercy and forgiveness with which we are loved.

Kellie Wilson

Pray

God, I thirst to be known and to know what I should do. Give me the answers that are everlasting so my thirst may be quenched. Then, help me to live from the answers so I may know I am loved and I may be a witness of your love to others. Amen.

Go

We all thirst for a sense of identity and mission. We thirst to know who we are and what we are called to do.

Ultimately, it is God who tells us we are beloved. This good news is water for our thirsty souls.

Now go and give this water to the thirsty.

Go and let others know they are beloved through your words and actions.