“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.”

— John 4:14

Water is basic and fundamental to life. I once heard a biologist say that when God decided to create water, the rest of creation was details. This is not meant to minimize all the complexities of God’s creation, but it can help us to see how important water is.

When Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink of water, he was breaking two social taboos. He was talking to a woman, and he was talking to a Samaritan. Jewish people thought of the Samaritans as half-breeds and heretics, and the Samaritans did not have much respect for the Jews. But by asking the Samaritan woman for water, Jesus wanted her to reconsider all the things she thought she knew.

She said, “You have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep. . . .” But Jesus wasn’t talking about H2O; nor was he talking about the kind of life that H2O makes possible. He was talking about himself—the water that brings eternal life.

Jesus offered the woman everlasting life. And when she drank in the living water of Christ—that is, the good news of eternal life in him—she was filled with new life.

Though we still have to drink enough H2O each day to keep our bodies going, we need only to drink the living water of Jesus to receive eternal life.

O God, thank you for the gift of new life in Christ. Fill us with your living water, that your good news may flow from us to all the world, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

“I am the way and the truth and the life.”

— John 14:6

It is sometimes hard to face the truth, especially when the truth is that we have messed up. Instead we make excuses. We think we are exceptional: “I didn’t really mean it that way.” “I thought it would be OK if . . .” And so on. But the truth is the truth. And Jesus is the Truth. The worst thing we can do is to ignore or deny this absolute and final Truth—that Jesus is the one and only Son of God who saves sinners. Though the truth about God’s nature and presence is clear to all, people tend to suppress it (Romans 1:18-20). We are all guilty of doing this. When we recognize the truth, we don’t like what we see. So we think it isn’t true for us, or that it doesn’t matter. But the truth does matter. Lying to ourselves matters, and it matters most if we lie to ourselves about God.

Today we live in a media storm of falsehoods. Many, many voices today lie or bend the truth to suit their own views or preferences. But beyond all the deceptions in this world, the final authority is God in Jesus—the Truth himself. Believe what he says, and believe that he died and rose again so that you may have life everlasting.

Dear Jesus, forgive us for our lies. We lie to try to prove we are right. We lie to try to make ourselves look good. Forgive us especially if we lie about who you are and what you have done. Amen.

We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption. . . .

— Romans 8:23

This passage in Romans says that we become adopted into God’s family through the finished work of Jesus Christ and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. This makes us “heirs of God and coheirs with Christ.” Amazing!

So, while blood relation can determine who is part of a family, so can adoption. And this involves love—unconditional love—as well as deep, lasting, faithful commitment. God’s love and commitment to us provide the best possible foundation for our lives.

It is indeed good news that we are adopted by God the Father through the work of Christ Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus and the Spirit, we become full sons and daughters in the family of God. Jesus, our older brother, brings us into the family. His commitment to us is so great that he gave up his life to free us from the curse of sin and death so that he could bring us into full life as children of God the Father.

In our adoption God says yes to us: “Yes, you are mine. Yes, I am with you. Yes, I love you forever.” God’s love and commitment are immeasurable. Thanks to Jesus and the guiding work of the Spirit, we are heirs to all of God’s promises and blessings.

Brother Jesus, thank you for making our adoption as children of God possible. We know that you are now seated at the right hand of the Father, claiming us as part of God’s family. We are no longer estranged, but beloved children. Amen.

He . . . shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

— Hebrews 2:14-15

In the beginning, when the first human beings brought sin into the world (Genesis 3), we became enslaved by the power of death—and that put us under the tyranny of the devil.

But that is not the end of the story. Ever since that time, God also promised to redeem us. In other words, God would somehow pay our debt of sin and free us to live as he intended. And one day Jesus, God’s Son, accomplished that for us. As the apostle John put it, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8). Jesus willingly laid down his life, giving himself over to death because death was the payment for sin. As Romans 6:23 puts it, “The wages of sin is death.” What’s more, Satan held us captive by the power of death because we had fallen for his temptation. And by falling into sin, we became subject to the curse of death.

Jesus, however, did not fall for Satan’s lies. Jesus remained sinless. So when he gave his own life to pay for our sin, the devil could not hold Jesus in his grasp. Jesus broke through the power of death with new life. He conquered death. He annulled the binding contract that subjected us to Satan’s power. He gave the devil his due—a perfect human life, and that ransom payment set us free, bringing us back to enjoy life with God the Father forever.

Jesus, thank you for redeeming us from the power of Satan. Help us to live for you. Amen.

Just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.

— Romans 5:18

Hell is not an easy subject to discuss when we are talking about faith in Jesus. It’s much more pleasant to focus on the love of God through Jesus that saves us from death and hell. Nevertheless, the subject of hell is mentioned in Scripture, and it is probably best described as condemnation or complete separation from God.

Romans 5 helps us understand that “sin entered the world through one man”—that is, Adam (see Genesis 3)—and that death, or condemnation, “came to all people” because of that. But Jesus, the Son of God, who became human, came to turn that problem around. Jesus never sinned when he was tempted, so through his obedience all who believe in him are “made righteous.” God’s “abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness” are made possible “though the one man, Jesus Christ!”

Sadly, all of us sin, so it is fair to say that we all deserve condemnation. Romans 6:23, for example, says that “the wages of sin is death”—and then it adds, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”!

All who have been rescued by Jesus have no need to fear. We will not be condemned. Jesus took on himself all of the sins that condemned us. So instead of being condemned to hell, we are promised new life forever with Jesus in the new heaven and new earth.

Jesus, thank you for rescuing us from sin, death, and hell. Help us to share this good news with everyone! Amen.

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

— John 3:14-15

In John 3, Jesus teaches that the strange story about a bronze snake in Numbers 21 points to him and his work of healing. Jesus saves us from sin and death. The book of Numbers includes many stories about the Israelites’ complaining to God as they trekked through the wilderness. In Numbers 21 they complain again about the food. And in this case God punishes them for their rebellion and disobedience. Like many Bible stories, this one continues with a plea for forgiveness, and God provides a merciful response. But the response is very unusual. God says, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole. Then whoever looks at it can live.”

The bronze snake that Moses made represented a sort of antidote to the venom of the snakes that were biting people. Looking to the bronze snake that was lifted up spared the people from death. Jesus brought up this old story while he was teaching about the work he had come to do. Jesus came to save us from the death we brought on ourselves by sinning and rebelling against God. Lifted up on a cross for our sake, Jesus died to pay the price of our sin. And when we look up to Jesus in faith, believing in the power of his sacrifice to save, “we may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus, thank you that we can look to you in faith and be saved. Amen.

“It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body.

— John 2:20-22

Did you know that the tabernacle in the Old Testament (Exodus 36-40), and the temple afterward (1 Kings 6-8), were made from heavenly blueprints? Hebrews 8 helps us to see this. All the features and furnishings were meant to show that the temple on earth was just a copy of the sanctuary in heaven.

When Jesus came to live among us, he brought the temple with him—in his person. The temple was the place where God met his people. It was where the Israelites presented themselves and their sacrifices before God.

When the Son of God became human, God and humankind were united as never before. God himself lived among us and was one of us. In fact, the original Greek text of John 1:14 tells us that Jesus “tabernacled” (“made his dwelling”) among us. Since God himself is present with us through Jesus, why would we need to meet with God anywhere else? The temple building in Jerusalem became obsolete after Jesus came, because God was present on earth in Jesus himself. And now a perfect human, Jesus, is present in heaven with God.

The book of Revelation adds that in the new heaven and earth God himself will dwell among us, and there won’t be a temple structure because “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb [Jesus] are its temple” (21:3, 22). And we will live there forever with God!

O God, we long to be with you. Bring us into the holy place you have prepared for us. Amen.

Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

— Hebrews 7:26

Priests had a very important role in ancient Israel. They served as mediators between the people and God. They stood between the holy God and his sinful people, enabling these people to approach the Lord.

But the priests themselves were also sinners. So even the best of them, the High Priest, had to purify himself before making sacrifices for the people.

Jesus, however, was pure and sinless, the Son of God who took on human flesh and came to live among us. He came to perform the role of the ideal High Priest for us all. Whereas the Old Testament (Old Covenant) priests were sinful and mortal, Jesus is pure and immortal. Jesus therefore serves as the perfect High Priest forever for our sake.

Now ascended and ruling in heaven, Jesus serves as our ultimate High Priest in the holiest place. He is the mediator at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, interceding for us. When God sees us now, he sees pure and blameless children of the new covenant mediated by the perfect High Priest, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Jesus, you are pure and blameless. You alone can be the mediator between us and God. Thank you for taking this role and for continuing to exercise it as you intercede for us in heaven. Amen.

We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

— Hebrews 10:10

The book of Hebrews looks at Jesus’ life from the perspective of the Old Testament system of sacrifices. Today we will reflect on Jesus as the one and only sacrifice for sin.

In ancient Israel, God commanded that sacrifices be made to cover the sins of the people. These sacrifices were symbolic, representing the sinner. By making a sacrifice, the sinner was saying, “I have done wrong and deserve punishment, but please accept this offering in my place.” The Israelites were required to make sacrifices for many things. If they touched a dead animal—make a sacrifice. If they harmed their neighbor—make a sacrifice. If they accidentally hurt someone—make a sacrifice. Making sacrifices was a part of everyday life. Why were there so many sacrifices? Because there were so many sins, and each sacrifice only (symbolically) covered one sin.When Jesus came, however, he gave up his life as a sacrifice. Though he was pure and perfect, he gave up his body in place of all our bodies. And his sacrifice did not symbolize just one man dying for his sin; Jesus, the perfect Son of God, offered himself as a sacrifice for all human sin. And because he committed no sin, Jesus’ sacrifice covered all the sins of all people, including you and me.

Thank you, Jesus, for putting an end to the Old Testament system of sacrifices. We could never offer an acceptable sacrifice. But your perfect sacrifice makes us acceptable to God forever. Amen.

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

— Matthew 4:1

Since the beginning, human beings have failed God’s test. In Eden, Satan asked, “Did God say . . . ?” and then misquoted God’s words. Adam and Eve responded by questioning the word of God and then doing what seemed right in their own eyes. So do we. Jesus, the Son of God, came to live among us as a human being. And, in his case, the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. There Satan made some suggestions that sounded rather reasonable—“have something to eat; show your power; fall into the arms of God.” Jesus responded to each temptation with a quote from the Scriptures. Rather than twisting God’s words, he said, in effect, “No, I live by the Word of God.” This is still our challenge as well. Will we live by God’s Word, or will we do what seems right in our own eyes? Like Adam and Eve, we are experts at twisting God’s words to suit our own purposes. We lie, we lust, we get angry, we are greedy, we gossip—and so on. Rarely does a day pass in which we don’t yield to some temptation.

We need to rely on the only one who passed the test. Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). What’s more, Jesus also laid down his life to pay the price for our sin—so that we can live forever with God. What a Savior!

Father, forgive us, for Jesus’ sake, when we fail to live your way when we are tempted. Lord Jesus, thank you for living faithfully and giving your life for our sake. Amen.