One element of my job which can be pretty heavy sometimes is talking to people whose lives are stuck in cycles of dysfunction. I’m talking about people who habitually make bad decisions. Every time they repent and recover from one, they go out of their way (it seems) to make another. So life is nothing but a series of dramatic twists and scandalous turns that never seems to have the peace and stability they so desperately crave.

That’s a good picture of this woman Jesus met at the well. Her life was a series of bad decisions and painful consequences. It was a cycle as regular as getting up each day and walking to the well for water. Immediately, Jesus sizes up her biggest need – thirst. This woman has a deep thirst that she can’t seem to quench, which is why Jesus tells her about “living water.”

Many of our most destructive choices are nothing more than a way to quench deep thirsts. A thirst for love will drive a person into immoral and unhealthy sexual relationships. A thirst for belonging can inspire all sorts of peer-pressure induced decisions affecting everything from what you wear to the very words that come from your mouth. A thirst for security drives a man to work long hours and stockpile money. A thirst for importance inspires people to invent causes and pour their lives into them. All of these thirsts are legitimate, and all of these solutions are temporary. They all lead you back to the well again and again.

Jesus is living water – a spring of water welling up to eternal life. He offers love that lasts; belonging that we need; security that is eternal; a mission that really matters. That’s why He said, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.” Jesus has living water. Come to Him and ask for it.