An Empty Jar???
A Samaritan woman came to the well of Jacob as she always did, with an empty jar. As always, she would draw water, fill her jar full, and carry it on her head back to the village of Sychar. When it was empty, she would return and do it all over again.
But this time would be different. This time she would meet Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, and he would make her a strange offer. He would offer to give her water such that she would never thirst again, because his water would be like a perpetual spring welling up within her unto eternal life.
Sometimes I think we are like that woman, hauling our empty worship jars to church so we can get filled up for another week. We come to church expecting a worship experience that is to our liking. In some cases we have chosen our church for this. We rely on the church to provide the music and the setting that will satisfy our thirsty souls that have become dry and parched from being so long in a godless world.
But it is pointless to go through this futile routine when none of it is necessary. We have, in us, the same perpetual spring Jesus was offering the woman, welling up unto eternal life. We received it by faith when we believed. With it, we can worship God wherever we are, whenever we want. We don’t need music in order to worship; we don’t need a church service in order to worship; we don’t need a worship leader to lead us in worship. We don’t have to wait for church in order to worship.
The church has gotten so good at worship these days; it’s easy to think we can’t worship without it. Worship has turned into something that we go to. We go to a place where worship happens. We come to rely on certain elements being in place before worship can take place. Doesn’t this sound a little like the woman coming to the well to fill up her empty jar?
Harold Best has said that we don’t go to church to worship, we go to church because we are worshipers. That would mean we were worshiping already. We worship when we bring God pleasure and we can do that at work, at play, in the car, at the beach, doing the chores. We can drink from the well of Christ’s presence inside our hearts and bring significance to anything we are doing.
Practice drawing on the well inside you today. Worship God today by focusing on him in the middle of everything else. And when you go to church this week, go as a worshiper, carrying the joy of a satisfied soul right into the presence of God and other believers. And don’t wait for worship to happen to you; make it happen. You’ve got the well inside you. Drink up.
