Whether you’re a parent juggling endless responsibilities, a young adult searching for meaning and fulfillment, or simply someone trying to navigate life’s day-to-day challenges, the only place you’re ever going to find true satisfaction is in Jesus—so how do you do it?
In John 4, Jesus offered a powerful answer to this all-important question when He encountered a Samaritan woman drawing water out of a well. She had been married five times and was presently living with a man that she was not married to. As you read the entirety of the story it becomes clear that she had been trying to fill an inner emptiness with the wrong things. He said to her in verse 14,
“Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
The Samaritan woman, like so many of us, was trying to satisfy her thirst for a relationship with God with worldly things. Yet, as Jesus pointed out, those substitutes could never satisfy her deep spiritual longing.
We often find ourselves doing the same today. We chase after human success, money, sex and relationships, or achievements, hoping they will fill the deep inner need in our hearts. But it never fills the empty place. At best, it’s just a temporary fix.
If you want to find satisfaction in Jesus, it takes recognizing that earthly solutions will always leave you wanting more, no matter how good they seem. Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John 4:10…
“If you knew the gift of God…you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
This living water represents salvation and eternal life, and it is the only thing that will satisfy that deep inner need we all have. The beauty of this gift is that it is free and available to everyone—it is the gift of God. It can’t be earned. It can’t be merited. It must be received by faith. As Isaiah 55:1–2 says…
“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?”
In other words, you’re spending your resources on something that will never satisfy you. It will never take care of that deep inward need.
When the Samaritan woman encountered Jesus, her life changed. She left her water pot behind—what she’d used again and again to temporarily quench her thirst. In a graphic way this symbolized that she left behind the substitute once she found the real thing.
I want to ask you, what are the “water pots” in your life? Maybe it’s the pursuit of perfection, financial security, or the approval of others. Once you taste the living water, you will leave all of the substitutes behind.
If you keep reading the story, something amazing happens. This broken woman, after her encounter with Jesus, goes and literally evangelizes her town. The whole town comes out, Jesus stays with them, and they come to believe that He’s the Savior of the world!
This Mother’s Day, as we celebrate the gift of love and the sacrifices moms make, let’s also remember the greatest gift of all: the living water Jesus offers. Whether you’re a mom seeking strength for your daily challenges or someone searching for peace and purpose, Jesus invites you to come to Him.
His living water satisfies completely, heals the brokenhearted, and fills us with a joy that overflows—one only He can provide.
