Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and Who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water." — John 4:10
The question has come up – How can we take evil desires to a holy God? Specifically, the other day, when I suggested that a lesbian take her desires to Jesus, am I sending the wrong message?
To deal with this question, let’s look at John, chapters 3 and 4. In chapter 4, we find the woman at the well. She was at the bottom of the heap – a Samaritan, and a woman living in sin. She had turned the institution of marriage on its head. If ever there was a person who needed a lesson on the holiness of God, it was her.
Or so it seemed.
But Jesus didn’t start there. He started by offering to satisfy her desires. She came to the well. She was thirsty. He said, "I can give you something better than any water you can draw from this well."
Contrast this with Nicodemus, the religionist, who comes to Jesus by night. Here is someone who is well schooled in the holiness of God. He is a teacher of the law, and he seemed to imagine that he was missing only one small piece of the puzzle, and then he would have it all.
But Jesus told him that he wasn’t even drawing puzzle pieces from the right box. He didn’t need an add-on to his religion. He needed total transformation. He needed to be born again.
In another case, the rich young ruler would have sat on any church board today. But Jesus told him that he needed to throw away everything that his life consisted of and start over.
How is it that holy God in the flesh was labeled a friend of prostitutes and sinners? I think it’s because He heard the cry of their hearts when no one else was listening.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
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