Living Water

Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

John 4:13-14

The sixteenth-century Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León’s name is most often linked to his search for the Fountain of Youth. According to legend, Juan searched in what is now Florida for a spring whose water would restore youth or allow those who drank it to live forever. Although his search for the Fountain of Youth is now considered to be just a made-up story, people still visit Ponce de León’s Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park in St. Augustine, Florida. The idea of water that can restore youth or allow people to live forever is appealing.

There may not be a spring in Florida that offers eternal youth, but there is water that gives eternal spiritual life. This water, however, is not physical water at all.

One day Jesus was traveling when he came upon a woman drawing water from a well. He told her she would drink that water and be thirsty again later, but if she took the water he offered, she’d never be thirsty again. The woman thought he meant real water that would quench her physical thirst, but Jesus was speaking of water that would quench her spiritual thirst and give her eternal life. He told her many things about her life he couldn’t have known, and she realized he was truly the Messiah. She went to her village and brought people back to hear him for themselves. Many people believed in Jesus that day.

Although there is no physical water that can restore youth or give you a long life, Jesus has a better offer—eternal life to those who believe in him.

Find John 4:1-42 in your Bible, and read the story of the woman at the well for yourself. The woman sharing what Jesus did caused many other people to go see Jesus themselves. How can you share the good news of Jesus today?