"'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life' ... The woman said, 'I know that Messiah' (called Christ) ' is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.' Then Jesus declared, 'I who speak to you am he.'" John 4 : 13 - 14 , 25 - 26
What do you thirst for?
I thirst after many things; acceptance and community are probably the two at the top of the list. Others thirst after success, money, knowledge. There are countless things to thirst after. And I think these thirsts change when you are a Jesus follower. If you call yourself a follower of Jesus then I would challenge you to look at what it is like to be authentic in your faith. What does it mean to have an authentic relationship with God? Do you have a place to be in authentic community? What does it look like to live with authentic purpose?
John 4 : 1 - 26 (a wonderful passage I encourage you all to read!!) is a story of a woman who is spiritually thirsty because she has never tasted authentic community, something we all feel during times of transition. Even after Jesus speaks truth into her life, she doesn't know how to have that authentic relationship. She decides her relationship will wait until a more convenient time. But the time is now! Jesus declares his identity as God and promises to fill us all with exactly what we need.
During her talk with Jesus, the Samaritan woman realized what authentic faith looked like. She discovered that a relationship with God, an authentic relationship, shouldn't wait. And she went back to the community that previously didn't accept her and shared the good news with them as well so they could be in relationship together. And she lived with that purpose - to share Jesus with people.
What could this be on our campus? Dream with me for a moment because I get excited thinking about this! :) Individually, we can choose to grow in authentic relationship with God (or begin a relationship with God for that matter). And as we grow individually our faith will be challenged, so if we shared life together as an authentic community, we could inspire each other and walk through those challenges together. This is true friendship; a group of people that know the REAL you and are able to laugh with you, support you, and encourage you. This is hard because we very rarely let our guard down and allow people (and God) to truly know us. We could let go and become learners and be changed. So, we have an authentic relationship with God now and we live in authentic community. What does our life look like with authentic purpose? We could let go of our pride and truly seek to bless our campus regardless of what we receive back. Are you getting excited now? Really amazing things can happen if we choose to live this way.
We have the ability to change our campus when we walk in the courage of Jesus.
What does your faith embody? Is it authentic?
