Imagine that are walking in the woods and the heat becomes so horrific that you desperately need a drink. The scorching humidity motivates you to look for something to satisfy the lingering thirst within. You search feverishly for a stream or some other body of water from which you could drink. Finally after several minutes you stumble onto a pond. However, you notice the debris on the shore and the obvious pollution has overtaken the pond. The filthiness is evident by the dinginess of the water. But then, all of a sudden, you notice that someone, in haste to get back to their campsite, left a cooler full of fresh cold water. You proceed to open up a one of the fresh bottles of water that satisfies your lingering thirst.

After finishing your water you see a fellow sojourner walking down the path. You notice his obvious need for a drink. You ask him if he would like a fresh bottle of water. But to your amazement, he refuses and instead opts to drink out of the dingy, dirty pond.

Likewise, Jesus has offered us the cool, fresh living water that only He can give. In the story of the Samaritan woman, Jesus goes out to get water at the same time as the woman. After He strikes up a conversation, He takes the opportunity to teach the woman a spiritual truth. The woman was seeking to satisfy her thirst from the polluted pond of this world. She thought that relationships would satisfy the longing that was burning in her heart. Jesus taught her that she had a thirst of which she was not aware. It was a thirst that God has placed in each of us that can only be satisfied by a relationship with our Heavenly Father.

The question we must ask ourselves is this; are we drinking from the living water that Jesus gives or from the dirty pond of this world? May we resolve to drink from the water that Jesus offers which causes us to never thirst again.