Have You Told Anyone?

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John 

July 9, 2024

Have You Told Anyone?

“Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” So the people came streaming from the village to see him.

John 4: 29-30

If you have experienced a time in your life where you were so caught up in the joy of what you were doing that you had no sense of time or hunger, you are most blessed. Handel wrote The Messiah, perhaps one of the most loved pieces of music of all time, in just a few short weeks. He seldom stopped to sleep or eat, and after he completed his work, he described it as a heavenly vision. (Last year, when we were in Dublin, we visited the church where Handle practiced The Messiah before he first conducted it in Ireland. The church is now a restaurant, but the organ is still there on the balcony.)

I suspect the Samaritan woman had a similar heavenly vision when she shared her encounter with Jesus with her neighbors. For Jesus, what had been planned as a brief stop to purchase food turned into an extended stay where many more people received his Good News. Most often, in our hindsight, we can see over a long period of time where God has been shaping and molding people to conform them to His will. Occasionally, we may get to be a part of a great flood of God’s grace, saving, healing and redeeming His people. Interestingly, the people around us may not know what is happening; just as Jesus’ disciples that afternoon in Samaria didn’t realize the magnitude of the change that was coming to the Samaritan woman’s small village.

That Samaritan revival began so innocently. The woman simply told her neighbors and friends how she had experienced Jesus. She had no great theological insights or understanding. She had an encounter with Jesus and told others about her wonderful experience. Can starting revivals be so simple? What was your most recent encounter with God’s grace? Have you told anyone?

My Takeaway: “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so” (Psalm 107:2a NRSV). 

Sē’lah

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.