FAMILY IT!--Wednesday Family Devotional--"Thirst Things First"

People are watching, listening, waiting for our stories! We live in a world that is hungry for Jesus and each of us has a beautiful story of how Jesus has impacted our lives. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get nervous sharing. I never know what parts of my story to tell, I wonder if it’s the right time to tell it and of course, wonder if they’re going to think I’m some crazy lady and then never speak to me again. Sometimes too the word "testimony" can be intimidating…like it has to be this well-worded, beautiful story with amazing visuals and an ending where everyone is left in awe. Now that can happen, but your testimony is just your story, part of your story and a summary of your story. You speak it and let Jesus leave them in awe. 

I get less nervous when I think about the impact my story could have; people coming to know Jesus is bigger than my nerves or my fears. This is someone or many people’s eternity we’re talking about. The very cool story of the woman at the well gives us a glimpse of what happens when we tell our story: 

John 4:39-43 ‘Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” 

MANY of the Samaritans…not just one or two, many people in that town believed in Christ because of this woman’s testimony. She was so excited and touched by her encounter with Jesus that she shared it, probably with passion! Like the Samaritan woman, we can see people believe in Jesus because of our testimony. 

Imagine the impact that your testimony could have! Could it impact friends, family? God can and does use our stories to bring people to know Him. Through something you say a friend could become a Christian, a family member, your whole family…your child’s whole class could believe in Jesus through them! It’s good to have our testimonies ready to share, but also we need to be telling people about our encounters with God as they happen! As prayers are answered, as God provides, as He works in your life, share those awesome and exciting stories!

This week as a family at some point…around the dinner table, before bedtime, while on a walk playing Pokemon Go!...share the names of the people you would like to see come to know Jesus personally. Also, talk about and even practice sharing your testimony! What would you say to a family member or a friend that doesn’t know Jesus? What would you tell them Jesus has done for you? What is something that has happened recently that you could share that might let people know how awesome God is! 

Enjoy your time with the Lord as a family!

Featuring guest writer Jessica Whisler

FAMILY IT! — Wednesday Family Devotional — “Thirst Things First”

I love my cooking shows!  Truly, when I watch TV, it’s about all I watch, and my favorites are the competitions.  The mix of new cooking techniques, suspenseful judgings, and delicious end products ticks every box for me.  I am especially drawn to contestants with interesting stories.  

One of my favorites is a twenty-something who still lives with his mom, and eats nothing but grilled cheese, plain hamburgers, boxed mac n’ cheese, and pepperoni pizza.  That’s. It.  That may sound like a fabulous diet to some of you, but even as young as twenty-five, this guy has figured out that trying to live on these foods alone has had a negative impact on his health and therefore his life.  He confesses that he doesn’t want to eat like a five year old anymore.  (Hey, my five year old eats way better than that!) His purpose for coming on the cooking show was to try to learn how to cook and improve his quality of life.  

What about you?  Do you enjoy eating unusual food or are you a plain hamburger kind of person?  What’s the most unique thing you’ve ever eaten?  

In John 4:27-38, Jesus talks with the disciples about food.  After a day of traveling, the disciples ran into town to try to find a drive-thru while Jesus rested at the well just outside of town.  This is where Jesus met the Samaritan woman and had a great conversation about living water.  But now the guys are back with burgers and fries and are a little confused to see Jesus chatting up this lady.  They wait a little awkwardly for her to leave, wanting to give Jesus the food they know He’s been waiting for.  

After she returns to town, however, the disciples are shocked when Jesus refuses the to-go bag.  Instead, He says, “The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started.” (v. 34 Msg)  Um…what?  Did someone already bring Him food?

What Jesus means is that doing what God wants (“the will of the One who sent me”) is what really fires Him up.  His drive, His inner fuel and motivation is knowing the Lord’s will and getting it done, like sharing God’s grace with the Samaritan woman.  It’s what fills Jesus up inside and makes Him happy and content.

What about you?  To be honest, most of us find our inner fuel in “five year old” things: playing, hanging with friends, sports, job success.  The food that keeps us going is having fun doing what we want.  Eventually, however, we figure out that trying to live on these things has a negative impact on our hearts and therefore our lives.  Jesus is showing us that focusing on God’s mission—being missional—is way better.  It’s so much more fulfilling to care for someone in need, the way Jesus would, than it is to simply care for ourselves.  It improves someone else’s quality of life…and after life…and it makes us better, too.  Win-win!

What can you and your family do to live on mission?  How can you focus your time on God’s will?  What will help you make that a priority over some of the others fun things in life?  Think of one thing you can do this week to be missional.  Put it on the calendar or make a big sign to remind everybody and get excited about it!  Then pray and ask God to fuel you all with his mission.

FAMILY IT! — Wednesday Family Devotional — “Thirst Things First”

Ok, here’s a simple one: what’s your favorite drink?  Now, I didn’t ask what you drink the most, although that may be the same answer.  I want to know what your absolute favorite, tickle your tastebuds, what you thirst for drink is.  Take a second and share with your family.

For our family, there are only two answers.  There are times I feel bad for our guests, because most of the time they can choose milk or Dr. Pepper.  (Or water, which is what they usually go with.)  My husband and children go through 6-7 gallons of milk a week, while I’m trying to ween myself off of my Dr. Pepper addiction.  What is it about those 23 flavors that makes it so tantalizingly awesome??

Our house is the rarity, I think, because when it comes to drinks there are so many options out there.  Have you noticed?  Types, flavors, sizes, temperature, caffeine content—the combinations are endless.  And we seem to have a beverage for every purpose and occasion.  We have drinks to wake you up and drinks to help you sleep.  We have some specially designed to give you that burst of energy during the day and others carefully crafted to not give you energy when you don’t want it.  You can get a drink to help you bulk up muscle and something else to help you drop pounds.  You drink one thing when you’re exercising, another when you’re celebrating, and another when you’re felling sick.  We have drinks for summertime, wintertime, even fall.  (Is there a spring drink?  I couldn’t think of one, but maybe.)  

With all of those options, all of those differences, do you know what each one of them has in common?  Every single one of them will eventually fail.  By definition, beverages are meant to quench thirst.  They help us keep our bodies hydrated.  Yet every single drink on the planet has a limited ability to do that.  No matter what you drink, you’re going to have to drink again.  

Today we’re looking at the story from John 4, when Jesus talked with the woman at the well.  In the story, Jesus said He had living water that would mean she would never be thirsty again.  Can you imagine what must have been going through her head?  She must’ve been like, “For real?!”  How incredible would that be!!  To have a drink that meant you would never have to drink again!  (You can read the whole story in John 4:5-26.)

Of course, when Jesus told her that, He wasn’t talking about hydrating our bodies.  He was talking about the thirsting we get in our souls, when we feel like we want something to make us happy or to help us feel complete.  That’s a different kind of thirst—the kind that can only be quenched with Jesus.  When we have a relationship with Jesus, His living water flows in our hearts, and we realize those other things we used to want, those other things we used to thirst for just aren’t important anymore.  How fab is that??

Jesus told the woman at the well that He could fill her life with things that mattered.  He could fill her heart in a way no husband or friendship or toy ever could.  And the great thing is, He makes that exact same offer to you.  Jesus has a huge glass of living water just waiting for your heart.  And He’s got glasses for your family, your neighbors, your friends, your teammates, your coworkers—everybody you know.  All He asks is that we help Him pass out the drinks by sharing Jesus’ love with others.

Who can you share a Jesus-drink with?  Jesus talked with a woman most Jews thought was completely unworthy.  They would’ve treated their dogs better than they treated her, yet that’s who Jesus picked to tell about living water.  Who can you tell?  It may be the person you least expect who needs it the most.  Talk together with your family about who you want to share Jesus with.  Talk about ways you can share love together to show the full measure of His love for them.

End your time praying that God would bless your efforts and help you share what living water really is.

FAMILY IT! — Wednesday Family Devotional — “Thirst Things First”

A new family must have moved into the house behind us over the winter.  We hadn’t known; there was no way we could have seen the For Sale sign or the moving vans from where we lived.  But suddenly, once the snow melted and the temperature warmed up, there were lots of boys running around our shared backyard.  Now, it turns out they didn’t all live in the house behind us.  A couple of them did, and the rest of the boys were their neighbors who came over to enjoy the expansive yard.  At first my kids were over the moon at the thought of new friends.  Finally, they had someone to play with besides each other.  And the boys ranged in ages, so both of my kids had someone their own age to talk to.  But after awhile, my daughter became less enthusiastic about playing with “the boys.”  When her dad and I asked what had changed, she stumbled around for an explanation.  “They’re loud.  And sometimes they’re mean.  And they’re just…different.”

I knew what she meant.  They were different—a lot different from her, in fact.  These boys liked loud, rowdy games, which meant they weren’t too interested in a game of make-believe with a wonderfully detailed and complex story line.  They didn’t want to take turns jumping in the trampoline.  They wanted to bounce together, colliding and trying to knock each other down.  They treated each other in ways that my children had learned were disrespectful.  Based on the short interactions we’d had with the parents, I guessed their home lives were different from my kids’, as well.  So I understood what she meant.  But did that mean my kids shouldn’t play with these other children?  

What do you think?  I’m sure you’ve known lots of people who were really different from you.  Maybe they came from a different country, spoke a different language, and ate really different foods.  Maybe their family treated each other differently than your family did.  Maybe they liked to do way different things, things that didn’t even sound fun to you.  Maybe they had different values, or even worshipped a different god.  What do you do when you’re around people who are so incredibly different?   Is being different a good enough reason to avoid someone or a group of someones?  

Take a minute and talk about that with your family.  What does everyone think?  When is “different” too different?

The Jews thought their “neighbors,” the Samaritans, were different.  Even though some of their ancestors had been Israelites, God’s chosen people, those ancestors had married people from other nations, nations that believed in many gods and not the one true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  That meant they were, well, different.  At the time Jesus and His disciples were teaching, most Jews wouldn’t even talk to someone from Samaria.   But Jesus decided to turn that practice on its ear.  Read what happened when Jesus traveled into Samaria, on purpose, in John 4:1-9.  

Jesus didn’t deny that the Samaritans were different.  He knew they had some views of God that were just plain off.  But maybe that’s what made it even more important to Him that He visit Samaria and share the real God of glory with them.  He knew that God wanted to be reconciled to ALL of his children, including the Samaritans.  And since they were so different, it would take a special connection, like Jesus talking with a woman at a well, for them to hear how much God loved them.  He could have avoided them.  After all, everyone else was!  But instead, He marched right into their downtown and told them about God.

Who are some of the “different” people in your life?  Have you been using that as a reason to avoid them?  What about Jesus?  What does He want for these different folks you know?

Talk together about ways you and your family can help people feel more welcome.  How can you share God’s love with even the most different kid at your school or in your neighborhood?  Pray together and ask God to help make you successful in reaching out to those who are different from you.

FAMILY IT! — Wednesday Family Devotional — “Thirst Things First”

Survey time!  Raise your hand if you’ve ever lived with a cat.  (Did you actually raise your hand?  Because you know I can’t really see you, right?)  I got my first cat when I was ten.  My parents had a dog since before I came along, so I knew what it meant to have a pet.  I didn’t realize that cats and dogs were really so significantly different in how they act.  Because…well…cats are crazy!

Now, I don’t mean that disrespectfully.  I have loved every cat I’ve ever owned.  My first cat lived to be 21, and I cried like a baby when we had to put her down.  But there’s just a fact of life that cats are completely, positively, without doubt crazy.  They’ll be sitting on your lap, comfy as can be, then for absolutely no reason they’ll bolt out the door faster than Superman.  Sound familiar?  How about when you’re watching TV and you hear this thumping sound.  Suddenly the cat bursts into the room, skids to a stop in the middle of the floor, and looks around with these wide eyes that almost say, “How in the world did I get here?”  They bounce around chasing bugs that aren’t actually there…I mean, I could go on and on, but hopefully you get my point.  I finally got a little insight when my kids and I watched “Inside Out.”  That’s the Disney movie about what it’s like inside a tween’s brain.  Cool flick, especially during the credits when they show the inside of a bunch of other brains, including a cat’s.  Makes total sense to me now!  

Anyway, in our Scripture passage for today, you could almost say that Jesus is acting a little bit like a cat.  Check out John 4:1-4.  You may know the story of the woman at the well—well, this is how it starts.  Jesus and His disciples are doing what they do: they’re preaching the Good News about God’s love and then baptizing those who choose to turn their lives around and live for him.  They’re reaching a lot of people, even more than John the Baptist, and his name includes “the baptist.”  So the Pharisees hear about it, which really doesn’t seem to be a big deal.  I mean, they don’t want anybody really doing this, so whether John or Jesus has a bigger total count shouldn’t really matter.  But then out of left field, Jesus decides to pack up shop and head to Galilee.

Um…that seems a little cat-like to me.  I can picture some of the disciples, maybe Peter, saying, “Hey, Jesus, what’s up?  Why are we relocating?  We’ve got a great site here, and everybody knows where to find us.  We’re making a big difference for these folks.  Can you let us know why we’re chucking it all to head to Galilee?”  On top of that, verse 4 says He “had to go through Samaria.”  Now any Bible scholar will tell you that Jews didn’t travel through Samaria.  There were well worn paths all the way around Samaria, so that the children of God wouldn’t have to set foot on tainted soil.  (More on that in our next family devotional.)  But again, Jesus makes a cat-ish maneuver and heads into this forbidden area.  You wonder if someone’s maybe messing with Jesus’ controls in “head-quarters”?

In truth, yes.  Jesus wasn’t just bouncing from one spot to another all random like.  He was being directed by God.  Jesus spent more time with God than with anyone else, and that says a lot since He basically lived with His disciples.  But by spending so much time in the Father’s presence, He knew exactly what the Lord wanted Him to do, where the greatest need was, what ministry opportunity was going to reveal God’s glory most.  He wasn’t being a cat—He was being the hands and feet for God’s mind.

Now, this phenomenon is not just available to the Son of God.  Every single one of us can know God’s leading—that’s exactly what he wants for us.  The more time we spend with God—the more we invest in daily presence with the Father through prayer, studying the Word, being mindful of how the Holy Spirit is working in and around us—the easier it is to hear God’s voice and understand his heart.  When we choose to invest in our relationship with our Abba Father, we find countless opportunities to follow his lead into new…and sometimes crazy situations.  But as we’ll find out when we explore the rest of this story, when we listen and obey God’s lead, we get to participate in some awesome moments that will transform lives.

Take some time as a family and share about what God’s been saying to you lately.  Where’s he leading?  What’s he up to?  

Feeling a little low on daily presence?  Ask your family to help you find time each day to spend with God.  Maybe you can turn it into a family challenge.  Set a goal for how many days you want each family member to spend with God and then decide what you’ll do to celebrate when you reach that goal.  After all, Jesus is a whole lot of fun!  (Even if He’s not cat-crazy.)