Morning Devotional

April 15, 2005
"The Woman at the Well" (Part 9) 
    by Don Emmitte

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"Please, sir," the woman said, "give me some of that water! Then I'll never be thirsty again, and I won't have to come here to haul water." "Go and get your husband," Jesus told her. "I don't have a husband," the woman replied. Jesus said, "You're right! You don't have a husband-- for you have had five husbands, and you aren't even married to the man you're living with now." (John 4:15-18 NLT).

The Samaritan woman was exposed before Jesus. He knew all her sin. He knew all her past mistakes. He knew all her pain. He knew every twist and turn her sordid life had taken. Jesus saw to the core of the Samaritan woman. And, to the outside world, the story was not pretty. However, grace has a way of painting a different picture entirely!

Since I have been living with Kyle and Brandy the last two months while we complete the transition from Texas to North Carolina, I have come to appreciate the value of children’s stories. Faith and Logan are just about the age where they will sit and listen to the books that we read to them. They are still very busy children with lots of their world to explore, so the stories are very brief. One of Logan’s favorite books is in the “Clifford” series. The story revolves around bath time for Clifford. For those who may not be familiar with this series, Clifford is a red dog. The story is very brief, but reminds me of a very important truth. Clifford’s mother gets Clifford in the bathtub and begins to scrub him against his protests. In the turn of a page, he finds that bath time really isn’t so bad after all. In fact, he likes it as he is allowed to play a bit in the water.

How like our lives that story is! We don’t want to “lose” our freedom and thus stay away from the only source that can give us freedom. Grace is not restrictive. Grace is liberating. Further in the story, Clifford is playing so hard that he begins to do some things that cause him to fall off a bar of soap into the deeper water (remember, it’s a story). With the declaration of “Oh no! Puppy, overboard!” Ducky comes to the rescue and saves the day for Clifford. How like Jesus this truly is. With his grace we are saved from our sin. With his grace we are given freedom. With his grace we are rescued from all danger!

Do you understand that this same experience has been made available to you? In spite of who you are or what you’ve done, Jesus offers you and I eternal life in Him. He does not hold our sins against us, but instead redeems us by His shed blood on the Cross. Your sins are not counted against you when you offer your life to Jesus Christ. Jesus takes your sins, covers them with His grace, and gives you life abundantly and forever! And, that’s what I call a happy ending to a great story! And, this one happens to be true!