FEBRUARY 26

“Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water” - John 4:15.

For sake of a name I'll call him Malcolm. Malcolm's very bearing made him stand out from the crowd, that, and his clothes. Bespoke designer wear suit, tailored from the finest cashmere. Shirts made from the purest silk shipped from the Orient. On his finger a gold ring bearing the family crest. Yes, Malcolm had all the trappings of wealth -–chauffeur-driven car -– bodyguards for protection. His family line could be traced back through the centuries....education, the best....lived in a palatial pile with servants at his every beck and call catering for every whim.

Wealth, youth, and a position in life.  To all intents and purposes Malcolm had it made. If anyone was living well, it was him. Problem was, Malcolm felt deep inside a strange gnawing dissatisfaction, something was missing. One day he realised that living well wasn't a life-style, it was a place -– the Living Well. He had to find the way.

The Gospel of Luke chapter 18 tells the story of this rich young man who, finding Jesus, asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must do to inherit eternal life?” - (vs. 18).

From the time of the Garden of Eden to 2015 we have all felt the void in our lives, our dissatisfaction with the trappings of today's life-style. Remember God's warningt to His people given through Jeremiah? “But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit....for My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns that can hold no water” - Jeremiah 2:11-13. The nation had traded their place close to God and prided themselves in their own accomplishments, convinced they were living well. Both Malcolm and the Israelite nation had fallen into the Tower of Babel mentality – the crutch of wealth and the self-made man.  Both had lives that could not satisfy.

Where does this leave us and the way we live our lives? Pastor Terry Boyle (Insight for Living. UK) writes: 'Maybe like the rich young man we're doing all the right things, but still getting the sense that something is missing....something is wrong....we are searching for more. Perhaps it's not the activity that's at fault. Perhaps it's the place, our spiritual place? In the day-to-day push and pull of life on earth we can gradually drift away from that place of sweet refreshment. We get distracted, we compromise, and we chase after the wrong things. We thirst. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVlf7OiiTJE

At the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem Jesus said: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” - John 7:37-38.

If we don't stay close to the Living Well, we have no chance of living well.'

I have chosen for our song today the Gaithers singing, “There is a River” - Live.