Because of what you told us ...

Hear the word of God:

“Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, "He told me everything I ever did!" When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world."
John 4:39-42

This story is such an amazing story of faith-sharing and personal spiritual growth. We have looked at a woman who was living a sinful life. Which one of us does not have this as a part of our resume? We have the meeting of Jesus and the woman, where he totally convicts her of her wrong lifestyle. This is also something that many of us have gone through. We have the woman trying to change the subject because she doesn’t want things to be that personal in her life. Am I hitting a nerve in your life yet? We are the woman. We are the person who has been stuck in the rut for so many years. We feel like we can never be more than what we have always been. Jesus comes along and challenges us to be so much more.

The story becomes even cooler. The woman was so convicted that she couldn’t help but go out and tell everyone she knew. The apostles stand around, clueless as to what is going on as the woman brings back so many from the village. They believed because of what the woman said, but after Jesus had spent some time with them, it says, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves.” They had the faith of the woman in the beginning, but after spending some time with Jesus, they have acquired ownership of their own faith. They spent so much time with Jesus that they couldn’t help but fall in love with him. But it all started with the woman.

As we have gone through this passage, I want you to realize that the story begins with you. We have people that we come in contact with every day who are hurting and need our Savior to come into their lives and make them whole. It begins with you though. I can’t say that enough. What are you doing to grow in your faith? Are your sharing these growth spurts with anyone else? The woman did and look what happened.

Jason