“Have any of you ever been really thirsty ... so thirsty that the only thing you could think about was getting a drink of water? That’s the way it often is in the country of India,” said Pablo as he began to print a Bible verse on the chalkboard—”Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life ... .” (Revelation 22:1717And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)).
“What’s the last word of this verse?” he asked the children.
“Freely,” they answered. It had been their memory verse that week, so most of them knew the answer.
“Now, I want to tell you the story of a Christian family that lived in the country of India. When it rains in India, it rains a lot. But when the dry season comes, it’s very dry. Even some of the deep wells dry up, and people have to search for water. When they find it, they may have to carry it a long way back to their houses.
“This Christian family was very happy that the Lord had saved them from their sins and they wanted to share that good news with others so they could be saved too and know they were on their way to heaven. However, the family’s landlord worshipped other gods and didn’t want to hear about the Lord Jesus. So he told the Christian man that he and his family had to move out.
“‘You’ve got to get out of my house!’ the landlord said. ‘My god is just as good as your God, and I don’t want to hear any more about Jesus!’
“So the Christian man and his family left that house and tried to find another place to live, but no one would rent them a house. So they went to live in the room where they meet with other Christians to worship the Lord Jesus. This room had a roof with posts holding it up, but it didn’t have walls. So the Christian man started building a small house next to this meeting room, and he dug a deep well.
“Then the dry season came. Many wells dried up, but the Lord kept the Christian man’s well full. His neighbors came to him and begged him to sell them some water. No, he wouldn’t sell them water.
“Why do you think he wouldn’t sell them water?” Pablo asked.
“Because they wouldn’t rent him a house,” the children answered.
“How does God give us the water of life?” Pablo asked.
“Freely,” one of the children answered.
“That’s right! Now if we love the Lord Jesus and know that we are justified freely by His grace, how does God want us to act?”
“Like the Lord Jesus?” one little girl asked timidly.
“That’s exactly right! If God freely gives us all we need, how should we give to others?”
No one answered, so Pablo had to tell them that the Christian man wouldn’t sell his water because he knew that God had supplied it, and God wanted him to give it freely to his neighbors. So that’s what he did.
Do you think that would make his neighbors more willing to hear about the Lord Jesus and how He died for them so they could have eternal life too? I’m sure it did.
Have you accepted God’s free offer of the water of eternal life? “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:1414But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14)).
ML-05/27/2012