One of my favorite things about Jesus is the fact that He comes to us. Jesus, in His perfection and holiness, decided to leave Heaven, come down to earth as a baby, and dwell among us. Am I the only one that thinks that’s crazy?!

But this is who Jesus is. He loves and dwells and meets us right where we are. Right in the middle of what we’ve done. He doesn’t let sin stop us from coming to Him, yet He came to us BECAUSE of our sin. Because this sin was separating us from God, He chose to come, take our sins upon Himself, and die in our place, all so that we could have a restored relationship with our Perfect Father.

This kind of love absolutely blows my mind because I’m so undeserving and it’s so different from anything I’d ever expect from anybody, let alone a perfect and holy God.

Even as someone who has grown up in church and heard the Gospel presented time and time and time again, still, even to this day, when I think about it, I am astonished.

What kind of God would do this for me?
What kind of God pursues me,
and instead of seeing my sin and stopping in His tracks,
He sees my sin and pursues me even MORE?

His pursuit after my heart gets that much more intense. His love is beyond my comprehension. I cannot wrap my mind around it. So I stop trying, and instead, I stand in awe and thanksgiving and humility and simply praise God for what He has done. God in His amazing grace, unmatched love, and great mercy, has saved a wretched sinner like me.

I wonder if this is how the Woman at the well felt.

Overwhelmed by love?
Taken aback by grace?
Caught off guard by redemption?

However she felt – the Bible doesn’t say – one thing we do know: she left her water jar and went back to her town exclaiming with joy, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?” (John 4:29)

A woman who previously felt so condemned, so ashamed, so full of guilt. This same woman left full of joy and love and excitement after encountering Jesus. Jesus came to her not to judge her like she expected. He didn’t even come to her with the sole purpose of calling out her sin.

Yes, He let her know that her sin was not hidden from Him, but He also let her know that SHE was not hidden from Him. Her sin did not make her inaccessible to the love of God. Her brokenness, her search for love, her desperation – the very things that made her an outcast to society – those are the very things that drew Jesus close to her.

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” (John 4:12-15)

Had she not been thirsty, she would not have gone to the well. Had she not been desolate, she wouldn’t have desired the Living Water that brings forth eternal life.

It is our brokenness, our mess, and our sin that makes us the perfect recipients of this overflowing well of Living Water. It is our weakness that makes us the perfect recipients of grace. It is our outright evil and wickedness that makes us the perfect recipients of the Gospel.

Jesus knew what the Woman at the Well wanted, yet He gave her what she needed. Jesus knows all too well what we so often long for, but He supplies us instead with what He knows that we need: Life for our weary souls.

Even when we are too afraid, too ashamed, or too embarrassed to come to Him, He comes to us. He lets us know that we are not unlovable, not unforgivable, and not untouchable. He doesn’t stand at a distance, yet He closed the gap. He lets us know that our shortcomings are not the end of the story. Our mistakes are no longer who we are.

He meets us in kindness.
He meets us in grace.
He meets us in love.

He comes and meets and fills and redeems. He washes our sins away and brings us into perfect union with Him.

Jesus ends our tireless searching and striving for well-water, and replaces it with His Living Water. Our hearts become our buckets, and He fills us with His Spirit, with His love, and with the everlasting, eternal joy that is found in Him alone.

Come, come to the well and drink. Come to the well of Living Water and be refreshed. Come to the well that only Jesus can supply and find a brand new life and complete joy and satisfaction in Him.

“Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!” -Isaiah 55:1

You are invited. Just come.