LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

John 4:4 And (Jesus) had to pass through Samaria.

I find it extremely challenging that Jesus intentionally took living water into forbidden territory. He crossed cultural boundaries and risked His reputation so that He could meet the need of a Samaritan woman.

The Samaritan people were despised by Jewish people.  History and DNA studies seem to indicate that when  the Jews were taken captive and removed from Jerusalem in 722 B.C., the Jews who remained in the rural parts of the homeland began marrying the occupying Assyrian people. The result was the Samaritans. They were labeled unfaithful and impure.

Jesus doesn’t care about labels. Love removes labels. Jesus masterfully models for us what love does. Love crosses borders. Love eliminates labels. Love risks reputation and personal safety to meet the spiritual needs of people. Love compels us to set aside our prejudices and serve people we might otherwise reject.

What labels have you placed on people that keep you from intentionally sharing the love of Jesus with them? Those labels will be removed when we realize that the love of Jesus removed the label we wore so that we could be called the children of God.

I wonder how many of the people we label would love a drink of living water?

Pastor John