Focus 3|Toward Understanding
If the conversation can move past the idea of "I win when I'm correct," it can start to move toward the resounding reason that God created conversation in the first place: "We win when we connect." Truth is, of course, useful for connection—and especially useful in connecting with God, because he is the Truth itself. Let's explore why understanding the one with whom you seek to connect might be the greatest experience of truth that can occur.
Chat about this ice breaker question to get started.
What is something that, no matter how many times it is explained to you, still doesn't really make sense?
What is something that, no matter how many times it is explained to you, still doesn't really make sense?
See what this Spotlight—and series—is focused on.
Tap on the words "Focus 3" in the image below to read this Spotlight's summary.
Tap on the words "Focus 3" in the image below to read this Spotlight's summary.
Let's talk about what it means to understand.
Read this section when you’re ready to begin today's Spotlight. (And welcome, by the way! It’s great that you’re here!)
Here’s a question: When you say you "understand," what is it that you are standing under?
The English word understand is one of the most incomprehensible words in the whole language. Not only does it talk about a very abstract concept (there's nothing concrete about understanding) its very form—the combination of the word "under" and the word "stand"—makes very little sense. Linguists who have tried to figure out the etymology have consistently come to the conclusion that understand is a less useful word than comprehend (which means to grab onto something together with someone else) but it has become a more popular word than comprehend simple because it's made of such simple ideas: being under something and, of course, standing.
The strongest conclusion that linguists come to about the word is that is refers, in some mysterious way, to getting yourself into a position where you can best observe something. Standing under a thing seems to be equated with really getting a good look at it—an objective one, even—so that as you view it you have a strong sense of what it really is.
In this Rightness is Passing series so far, we've talked a lot about knowledge and truth, and how they are misused when people try to separate themselves from others by means of what they know. Here, in Part 3, we begin to look at a better, positive use of truth and knowledge: understanding not abstract concepts or memorizable truths, but understanding other people.
Thankfully, this has nothing to do with where you stand in relation them. It's just about positioning yourself to see them better.
Read this section when you’re ready to begin today's Spotlight. (And welcome, by the way! It’s great that you’re here!)
Here’s a question: When you say you "understand," what is it that you are standing under?
The English word understand is one of the most incomprehensible words in the whole language. Not only does it talk about a very abstract concept (there's nothing concrete about understanding) its very form—the combination of the word "under" and the word "stand"—makes very little sense. Linguists who have tried to figure out the etymology have consistently come to the conclusion that understand is a less useful word than comprehend (which means to grab onto something together with someone else) but it has become a more popular word than comprehend simple because it's made of such simple ideas: being under something and, of course, standing.
The strongest conclusion that linguists come to about the word is that is refers, in some mysterious way, to getting yourself into a position where you can best observe something. Standing under a thing seems to be equated with really getting a good look at it—an objective one, even—so that as you view it you have a strong sense of what it really is.
In this Rightness is Passing series so far, we've talked a lot about knowledge and truth, and how they are misused when people try to separate themselves from others by means of what they know. Here, in Part 3, we begin to look at a better, positive use of truth and knowledge: understanding not abstract concepts or memorizable truths, but understanding other people.
Thankfully, this has nothing to do with where you stand in relation them. It's just about positioning yourself to see them better.
Let's say a prayer together as we dive into this Spotlight.
Lord,
Help us as we seek to understand ourselves and those around us,
including you. Thank you for completely understanding us
even when we do things we don't understand ourselves.
Amen.
Lord,
Help us as we seek to understand ourselves and those around us,
including you. Thank you for completely understanding us
even when we do things we don't understand ourselves.
Amen.
Welcome Perspective
Understanding goes beyond knowledge and truth to reach to other people.
Understanding goes beyond knowledge and truth to reach to other people.
Let's sing the song, With Great Hope.
Would you sing me the story of life after death?
He is risen. He is risen, indeed.
When his heart starts to beat and his lungs fill with breath.
He is risen. He is risen, indeed.
After nights and days in a borrowed grave he sits up as the stone rolls away,
with great hope
sees the dawn of good grace on this truly new day.
He is risen. He is risen, indeed.
Would you walk with the women who haven’t a clue
he is risen, he is risen, indeed?
Stand in shock as the angels hark herald to you,
“He is risen. He is risen, indeed.”?
Can you kneel with Mary and cling to his feet
and then go tell your friends what you’ve seen
with great hope?
Will you run for your life not as frightened but freed
He is risen. He is risen, indeed!
So let’s sing it like slaves who are loosed from their chains:
He is risen. He is risen, indeed!
Like we ought to be dead but there’s life in our veins:
He is risen. He is risen, indeed!
And when darkness lies and the enemy tries to deny what by faith we have seen
with great hope
we will shout Alleluia and claim victory:
He is risen. He is risen, indeed!
When the journey is painful, confusing, and long
“He is risen, he is risen indeed”
will be our affirmation, our story, our song.
He is risen, he is risen indeed!
And our hearts will burn for the peace that we yearn for someplace everybody belongs
with great hope
of a best destination we’ll keep pressing on.
He is risen, he is risen indeed!
Would you sing me the story of life after death?
He is risen. He is risen, indeed.
When his heart starts to beat and his lungs fill with breath.
He is risen. He is risen, indeed.
After nights and days in a borrowed grave he sits up as the stone rolls away,
with great hope
sees the dawn of good grace on this truly new day.
He is risen. He is risen, indeed.
Would you walk with the women who haven’t a clue
he is risen, he is risen, indeed?
Stand in shock as the angels hark herald to you,
“He is risen. He is risen, indeed.”?
Can you kneel with Mary and cling to his feet
and then go tell your friends what you’ve seen
with great hope?
Will you run for your life not as frightened but freed
He is risen. He is risen, indeed!
So let’s sing it like slaves who are loosed from their chains:
He is risen. He is risen, indeed!
Like we ought to be dead but there’s life in our veins:
He is risen. He is risen, indeed!
And when darkness lies and the enemy tries to deny what by faith we have seen
with great hope
we will shout Alleluia and claim victory:
He is risen. He is risen, indeed!
When the journey is painful, confusing, and long
“He is risen, he is risen indeed”
will be our affirmation, our story, our song.
He is risen, he is risen indeed!
And our hearts will burn for the peace that we yearn for someplace everybody belongs
with great hope
of a best destination we’ll keep pressing on.
He is risen, he is risen indeed!
Pray for understanding.
You may have heard some or all of "The Prayer of St. Francis." It's pretty good. Pray it aloud together now:
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
He's got the line: "Grant that I may not so much seek...to be understood as to understand."
It's reminiscent of wise King Solomon's words in Proverbs:
The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters,
but one who has insight draws them out.
Proverbs 20:5
Before you apply these words to yourself, consider how Jesus has fulfilled them. Read through this story from John 4 about the way he understood the people around him:
Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 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.”
15 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.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
The Disciples Rejoin Jesus
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
We'll talk more about this story in the next section, but for now, this:
You may have heard some or all of "The Prayer of St. Francis." It's pretty good. Pray it aloud together now:
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
He's got the line: "Grant that I may not so much seek...to be understood as to understand."
It's reminiscent of wise King Solomon's words in Proverbs:
The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters,
but one who has insight draws them out.
Proverbs 20:5
Before you apply these words to yourself, consider how Jesus has fulfilled them. Read through this story from John 4 about the way he understood the people around him:
Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 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.”
15 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.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
The Disciples Rejoin Jesus
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
We'll talk more about this story in the next section, but for now, this:
- Did Jesus speak any words of condemnation to the woman at the well?
- Have you heard interpretations of this story that included condemnation of the woman's previous actions and ways of living?
- Jesus clearly knew this woman in an amazing way. He understood her and what she needed. He used that understanding to connect with her.
Pray about this using this prayer, inspired by the story.
We remember the woman at the well –
her questions, her truth, her witness.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, so like her
we may ask candidly,
reveal ourselves deeply, and
share your Good News freely.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us,
so we may worship you in spirit and truth.
Jesus, we thirst
We thirst for love and belonging
We thirst for security and provision
We thirst for truth and hope
We thirst for healing for our wounds
We thirst for mercy for our sin, our guilt, our shame
Time of silent confession
Jesus, you pour yourself out for us and the world
so we may be born again of water and the Spirit,
so we may never thirst again
We thank you and praise you for your eternal blessing and forgiveness.
Help us lead others to the well of your saving love.
Amen.
We remember the woman at the well –
her questions, her truth, her witness.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, so like her
we may ask candidly,
reveal ourselves deeply, and
share your Good News freely.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us,
so we may worship you in spirit and truth.
Jesus, we thirst
We thirst for love and belonging
We thirst for security and provision
We thirst for truth and hope
We thirst for healing for our wounds
We thirst for mercy for our sin, our guilt, our shame
Time of silent confession
Jesus, you pour yourself out for us and the world
so we may be born again of water and the Spirit,
so we may never thirst again
We thank you and praise you for your eternal blessing and forgiveness.
Help us lead others to the well of your saving love.
Amen.
Continue by reading this poem.
(As you read, think about what you think the author got right, and what you think he got wrong.)
A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist.
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,— act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
(As you read, think about what you think the author got right, and what you think he got wrong.)
A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist.
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,— act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
Try to understand the woman at the well.
Read through John 4.
Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John—although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
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.”
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Read through John 4.
Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John—although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
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.”
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Let's talk about the woman at the well.
(Remember, be curious, not judgmental.)
This matters because it's easy to get wrapped around the past behavior of the woman in this story and miss what Jesus was really wanting to talk about—something he knew she needed: living water from a perpetual source.
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Perhaps you've heard of the idea that the devil and the demons know about God but yet are not saved or connected to God.
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:13
(Remember, be curious, not judgmental.)
- What do you know about her?
- Did Jesus say anything to condemn her?
- Does she show that she is feeling guilty in this story?
This matters because it's easy to get wrapped around the past behavior of the woman in this story and miss what Jesus was really wanting to talk about—something he knew she needed: living water from a perpetual source.
- What was the point of disagreement between the Samaritans and the Jews that the woman at the well brings up?
- What does it mean to worship God in Spirit? Can you give an example?
- What does it mean to worship God in truth? Can you give an example?
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Perhaps you've heard of the idea that the devil and the demons know about God but yet are not saved or connected to God.
- Can you articulate the difference between a demon who yields to Jesus and listens to him and fears him (like we see in Luke 4) and a Christian?
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:13
Feel free to submit a prayer request by filling out the below form.
(If you choose to make your request public, you'll see it display in the Current at the end of the Spotlight along with anyone else who did the same.)
(If you choose to make your request public, you'll see it display in the Current at the end of the Spotlight along with anyone else who did the same.)
Pray through your requests—together—as a group.
After submitting your requests in the above form, take some time to share with your group whatever requests the group might have for this week.
After submitting your requests in the above form, take some time to share with your group whatever requests the group might have for this week.
Sing along with (or listen to) this song to close out this Spotlight.'
Feel free to sing along or simply listen. Do what makes you comfortable—but do whatever helps you focus on the song's meaning best.
Feel free to sing along or simply listen. Do what makes you comfortable—but do whatever helps you focus on the song's meaning best.
Let's wrap things up by taking a look at what's Current at Illume.
Tap on the buttons in the frame below to see what’s currently happening at Illume—information on everything from current and upcoming online content to live events and opportunities to serve in the community can all be found here.
Tap on the buttons in the frame below to see what’s currently happening at Illume—information on everything from current and upcoming online content to live events and opportunities to serve in the community can all be found here.
Posted in Rightness is Passing
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