The future is now
This week's study is on John 4:21-26:
These verses come as Jesus was sharing a prophetic message with a woman drawing water from a well. We join him as he tells her about salvation, and she basically responds "That's nice. I already have a religion. I'll worry about all that stuff when the messiah comes." I can almost picture Jesus snapping his fingers in front of her face when he says "I am here now."
Our society has a similar superstition as the woman had. God, to many, is something to deal with when we die. It's a future thing, that gets taken care of by a priest when we're on our deathbed, or which we can buy our way into, post-mortem, based on good deeds we've done in our lives. The issue with that is that God is here now. We don't have to wait. It's stupid to wait.
God doesn't just live in heaven, or dwell in the afterlife. He is among us, and can encounter us the same as Jesus encountered the woman at the well. It was a life changing event for her and can be for us as well. God isn't something for later. He's now. Don't wait.
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
These verses come as Jesus was sharing a prophetic message with a woman drawing water from a well. We join him as he tells her about salvation, and she basically responds "That's nice. I already have a religion. I'll worry about all that stuff when the messiah comes." I can almost picture Jesus snapping his fingers in front of her face when he says "I am here now."
Our society has a similar superstition as the woman had. God, to many, is something to deal with when we die. It's a future thing, that gets taken care of by a priest when we're on our deathbed, or which we can buy our way into, post-mortem, based on good deeds we've done in our lives. The issue with that is that God is here now. We don't have to wait. It's stupid to wait.
God doesn't just live in heaven, or dwell in the afterlife. He is among us, and can encounter us the same as Jesus encountered the woman at the well. It was a life changing event for her and can be for us as well. God isn't something for later. He's now. Don't wait.
Short but poignant !
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