I Could Sure Use A Drink!

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink the water that I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
(John 4:13-14)

Who Could Use A Drink?
Have any of you felt like the Samaritan woman at the well? Maybe you don't have five ex-spouses and are currently living in sin, but maybe you have found yourself in circumstances that were not, shall we say, "ideal." Maybe you are in a tough situation at work, having trouble with your marriage or your children, or simply feeling distant from God. Have you ever felt that way? Just feeling empty. We all feel that way at times, don't we? Maybe you are feeling that way right now.

The Samaritan woman was someone who really needed a drink of living water. She jumped right on the offer Jesus made her. It may have sounded unbelievable, but she was at a low place in her life where she was ready to believe. She wanted to believe. The offer of eternal life in this passage, however, is not reserved for the down and out. For those who have hit rock bottom. Sometimes people who are running on empty and most in need of living water are those who from the outside, seem to be full. Do you know people like that? From the outside, they look like they have it all. A six-figure income, great job, attractive spouse, good health, and a beautiful home. If you pay close attention, however, people who seem to "have it all" are not always happy people. In fact, despite the ostentatious exterior, many well-to-do people are as desperate as the Samaritan woman at the well. If they knew Jesus, they would implore him, "Give me this water so that I won't get thirsty again!" with the same fervor as the Samaritan woman.

Everyone who seeks satisfaction from things of the world will be thirsty again. Whether they seek satisfaction through relationships, alcohol, risk-taking behavior, achievements, or by becoming workaholics, they will never be satisfied. Why go through all of that trouble when Jesus reminds us that "Those who drink the water I give them will never thirst" - how simple is that! Drinking the water Jesus gives you "will become . . . a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Don't wait until you fall upon desperate circumstances to ask Jesus for living water. Ask Him today! He is waiting to hear from you, and can do immeasurably more for you than you could ever ask or imagine! (Eph. 3:20)

Lord, please give me your living water so I will not thirst. Please remind me to keep my eyes on you and not seek satisfaction from the world or from worldly desires. Please remind me that through my faith in you I can receive satisfaction far above and beyond anything I ever imagined in this world. Only you can make me truly full so that I will not thirst. In your name I pray.

~ With thanks to Brent McBurney, Director of Attorney Ministries, Christian Legal Society. This devotional was written by CLS Member, Wendy L. Patrick, J.D., M.Div.

Who Is Worthy To Drink Living Water?

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink the water that I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
(John 4:13-14)

Who is worthy to drink living water? This is a critical question nowadays in a society where we are constantly reminded that we could be doing better. Have you ever noticed how massive the self-help section of a bookstore is compared to some other sections? There are books on how to improve every single aspect of your life. Many of us are taught to believe we are just not good enough as we are. We live in an age where standards have become so high that we joke that we would never be accepted into the colleges we managed to attend years ago, and we are filling out resumes and personal statements for our toddlers to attend preschool. And sometimes they don't get in. Not good enough!

Those without faith are hit particularly hard with these unrealistic standards, and even more prone in many cases to consider themselves unworthy. Which is why this is such a great verse; because what kind of a person is it in this passage that is offered living water? A righteous person? Someone living according to high standards? The valedictorian of the local High School? No. A woman who was living in sin with a sordid past, probably shunned by her neighbors. Jesus chose her, to offer her living water and eternal life. He chooses every one of us also individually, and He meets us exactly where we are, ex-spouses and all!

If you are thinking today that you are not good enough, please remember these verses. Jesus specifically chose the Samaritan woman as the one to whom He revealed Himself as the Messiah. If anyone could have used a drink of living water, she could. His invitation to come and drink living water is extended to you. You don't need to go through life empty, you too can be filled. So don't be afraid to approach Jesus. You don't need to come ashamed, or defensive. Just come thirsty, and drink.

Lord please bless us this day and remind us that your offer of living water is open to all of us right now. Please meet us right where we are in order that we may take part in your gift of living water that you extend to each of us. In your name we pray.

~ With thanks to Brent McBurney, Director of Attorney Ministries, Christian Legal Society

The Spirit of the Gospel

Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:29-30)

How should we look at people? As they are or as they may become? How does God see the men and women around us? Do we tend to divide our acquaintances into "likely prospects" and "hard cases"? Consider the following story of the conversion of a rough man in a brutal environment.

The scene is the jail at Philippi. Paul and Silas had been ministering in the region, but wherever they went they were followed by a certain slave girl who was possessed with a spirit of divination. We are told that her masters made a good living from her fortune-telling. But now she fastened her attention upon Paul and Silas. She would cry out as they attempted to speak "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation!" After several of these outbursts Paul became "greatly annoyed." He stopped speaking, turned around and commanded the spirit to leave the girl, and it is recorded that the spirit of divination "came out that very hour." Incensed at this interference with their livelihood, the masters of the slave girl incited the people and the magistrates to take Paul and Silas, beat them with rods and dump them into the local prison.

At midnight, Paul and Silas were singing hymns to God when a great earthquake shook the prison. It opened doors and loosed the prisoners' chains. The keeper of the prison assessed the situation, realized that he could not prevent the escape of the prisoners. He knew what his superiors did to men such as him who failed in their job performance, and decided that taking his own life would be preferable to the painful death he would suffer at their hands. But as he drew his sword, Paul called to him with a loud voice: "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here." We know how the story ends. The jailer beseeched Paul and Silas to show him the way of salvation and, after they did, he prayed to receive Christ. Paul and Silas were taken to the jailer's home and their wounds were dressed. The jailer and his family were baptized and afterward they shared a meal with Paul and Silas.

So, how did Paul and Silas see the jailer? They could no doubt see that he was a coarse, hard man, a man accustomed to brutality and torture, a man who gave no mercy and expected none. But Paul and Silas saw something else. The Holy Spirit had gifted them with what Watchman Nee called the spirit of the Gospel - the compassion that comes from sensing the perishing condition of sinners. They saw what Richard Wurmbrand saw in a communist concentration camp in Romania in the late 1940s.

Wurmbrand's story reads like the book of Acts. It is recounted in his book Tortured for Christ,and in abbreviated form in Jesus Freaks - Stories of Those Who Stood for Jesus. As the communists came to power in Romania in 1945, they sought to co-opt the churches by holding a great congress for the religious leaders - some 4,000 Christian leaders attended. The agenda of the communists was to force the church into submission to the new regime. The assembly began by electing Josef Stalin as honorary president. Then, at the main convocation, bishops and pastors rose one after another and declared loyalty to the state, assuring those present that Christianity and communism were fundamentally the same and could co-exist. Wurmbrand and his wife Sabina became more and more upset.

Finally, Sabina looked at her pastor husband and said: "Richard, stand up and wash this shame from the face of Christ." He knew what was at stake: "If I speak, you will lose your husband." Sabina's reply: "I do not wish to have a coward for a husband." Wurmbrand took the stage and to everyone's surprise, began to preach. "Delegates," he began, "it is not our duty to praise earthly powers that come and go, but to glorify God the creator and Christ the Savior who died for us on the cross." Many of the delegates who had been afraid to oppose the communists until then, began to praise God loudly and pandemonium broke out in the assembly. Wurmbrand's microphone was cut off and the assembly was shut down for the day. Richard Wurmbrand was a marked man thereafter. Eventually he spent fourteen years in prison, where he was subjected to the most cruel sorts of torture. His wife, Sabina, likewise went to a prison camp for three years.

But like Paul and Silas, Wurmbrand was not a typical prisoner. He and his fellow Christian brothers, in the midst of unimaginable cruelties, began to experience a miracle:

And then the miracle happened. When it was at the worst, when we were tortured as never before, we began to love those who tortured us. Just as a flower, when you bruise it under your foot, rewards you with its perfume, the more we were mocked and tortured, the more we pitied and loved our torturers.

After his release from the prison camp in 1956, Wurmbrand told his story to the world. Often he was asked with some incredulousness: "How can you love someone who is torturing you?" His reply:

By looking at men...not as they are, but as they will be... I could also see in our persecutors a Saul of Tarsus - a future Apostle Paul. Many officers of the secret police to whom we witnessed became Christians, and were happy to later suffer in prison for having found our Christ. Although we were whipped, as Paul was, in our jailers we saw the potential of the jailer in Philippi, who became a convert. We dreamed that soon they would ask, "What must I do to be saved?"

How do we look at the people who we deal with day to day? Are we surrounded by unlikely candidates for the Gospel? Perhaps we need new eyes. Let the story of Richard Wurmbrand inspire us to see that "something else" in people - to see our clients and colleagues, even our adversaries, as they may become in Christ.

Heavenly Father, today I ask you to give me the spirit of the Gospel -- eyes to see individuals as You see them. May I experience the miracle of love for the unlovely and undeserving. Be with your men and women around the world who have chosen to risk all for Your sake and for the Gospel. May it be that I would have a part with them in what You are doing.

~ With thanks to Brent McBurney, Director of Attorney Ministries, Christian Legal Society

Reflecting God's Grace

Is it possible to be a gracious lawyer? I’ve been challenged by this question the past few weeks while doing a study about grace based on a book by Richard Blackaby. Although it’s not always an easy task to shower blessings on someone we consider undeserving – we must allow God’s gracious love for us to motivate us to see others as He sees them.

One of the problems plaguing the legal profession is the misperception in society that all lawyers are just out to make money, demonstrate their superior intellect, win in court at all costs, or consolidate more and more power and prestige for themselves. The root of these attitudes, which admittedly are displayed by many attorneys, may just begin on the first day of law school when a self-absorbed professor encourages a new law student to “think like a lawyer.” The professor then proceeds to question and challenge every conclusion and assumption that the student makes as if the very foundation of the world will crumble if the student can’t learn to analyze the problem exactly as the professor sees the issues.

Law students are taught to question everything, evaluate every facet of a problem, and critically analyze all aspects of their clients’ situations. Although there is significant value in learning to “think like a lawyer, ” students often misinterpret the end game by thinking that they must always develop a detached and cold view of the facts and applicable law in each case. They must see the client for what he or she is so that they can “work the problem” and be careful not to sympathize too much with their clients or see their clients’ potential without maintaining a firm perspective on who they actually are and what actions have characterized them in the past.

Read Ephesians 2:3-5 below and ask: am I worthy of God’s grace? “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.” God pours out His undeserved blessings on us when we are reconciled to Him through faith and continues to shower us with his gracious favor in practical ways every day. He recognizes the error of our ways and sees our sin, arrogance, failures, and foolishness. Yet our gracious God looks beyond our unworthiness to see what we can become! Think about it – according to II Corinthians 5:21, God made Him who knew no sin (Jesus Christ) to be sin for us – that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him!

God’s grace is sufficient for us every day. Now he expects us to be conduits of His grace to the world around us. As we “think like lawyers” to solve problems for our clients, let’s never forget to see people as God sees them – for what they can become. And remember it’s not an act of grace if it’s deserved – we may need to direct our kindness, sympathy, generosity, and favor to those still mired in difficult circumstances. Closer to home, do we let our lawyer-like minds impact how we treat our spouses or other members of our families? We should reflect God’s gift of grace to all those around us! II Corinthians 6:1 says it well, “Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us.” Don’t receive God’s grace in vain – reflect his grace to all those around you!

~ Associate Professor David Velloney, Regent University School of Law