The Life and Ministry of Jesus
Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” John 4:6–10
Jesus calls us to have a ministering heart, to reach out to others regardless of the barriers, and that is the mark of an authentically enlarged heart—the heart of Jesus. Perhaps we need to cross some barriers in our lives. Maybe we have never shared Christ with some people with whom we rub elbows because they are not like us. Perhaps our Lord is asking us to have a ministering heart. A ministering heart is an expansive heart that ministers when it is weary. A heart that is so filled with love that it crosses the normal barriers of life and reaches out. A ministering heart sees divine potential in its relationships. It is an enlarged heart, just as Christ’s was. 1
Personal Encouragement
Will you take the challenge of Jesus this week and leave your “comfortable zone” to share His love with someone that lives so differently than you?
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35
To spend time outside your comfort zone, with an unloveable person, is a very lovely act of love.
A Prayer
Lord, forgive my selfishness and insecurity. Remove those barriers. Work through me.
1. Hughes, R. K. (1999). John: that you may believe. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.