{"id":1594,"date":"2017-03-08T10:18:51","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T15:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/?p=1594"},"modified":"2017-03-08T10:21:43","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T15:21:43","slug":"i-am-regrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/i-am-regrets\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I AM…’"},"content":{"rendered":"

E<\/span>veryone has regrets<\/b>. We regret the words we let fly and never live down; the opportunities we messed up or ones we never took up; relationships we let slip and ones we should never have begun. There are all those past actions for which \u2018redemption\u2019 seems impossible.<\/span><\/p>\n

The playwright Arthur Miller, put it this way,\u00a0\u2018Maybe all one can do, is hope to end up with the right regrets\u2019.<\/b>\u00a0A woman at a well in Samaria two thousand years ago would have agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like us, she longed for happiness but it had eluded her. Five failed marriages testified to that. Thinking that love and marriage would give her life meaning and happiness, she thought that each new man was Mr. Right. But each time she made the same mistake. Her life was a mess.\u00a0She felt insecure, lonely, and dissatisfied<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

But there came a day when her life was transformed through a conversation with a Jewish man. Transgressing social taboos, Jesus initiated a conversation with her through a simple request for water from the well.\u00a0He didn\u2019t talk about her life or matters of faith \u2013 at least to begin with<\/b>. Rather he spoke then, as he speaks to us today, with concern and respect. However, it wasn\u2019t long before he took the conversation further by speaking about\u00a0living\u00a0<\/i>water. It opened up the opportunity to talk about her regrets.<\/span><\/p>\n

In John 4:12-15 we read:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Jesus said to her, \u201cEveryone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.\u201d The woman said to him, \u201cSir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

REGRETS<\/span><\/h2>\n

Jesus offered her water that would satisfy her deep inner spiritual thirst.\u00a0He was saying that he is the answer to the regrets and emptiness that gnaw our souls<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of us aren\u2019t willing to acknowledge this \u2013 and the woman that day was no exception. We pretend we\u2019re doing well, but\u00a0the reality is that we often live closer to despair than we admit<\/b>. So we endeavor to offset our sense of emptiness by filling our social calendar, making money, being \u2018a success\u2019, even pursuing sexual adventure.\u00a0But it never works.<\/span><\/p>\n

No matter how successful we are, no matter how intense the emotional relationships we might experience, nothing can be a substitute for the relationship with God for which we were made.\u00a0If we are going to find Jesus\u2019 answer to our regrets, first we have to acknowledge our need<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus said to her, \u201cGo, call your husband, and come back.\u201d The woman answered him, \u201cI have no husband.\u201d Jesus said to her, \u201cYou are right in saying, \u2018I have no husband\u2019; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!\u201d The woman said to him, \u201cSir, I see that you are a prophet\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/i>(John 4:16-19)<\/span><\/p>\n

Suddenly she realized that Jesus, whom she had taken for a progressive Jewish man, was nothing less than a prophet with supernatural knowledge of her sin.\u00a0She knew enough about religion to realize that she was being challenged to sort out her relationship with God<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The big question was\u00a0where<\/i>\u00a0to do this\u2013the temple in Jerusalem, or a house of worship in Samaria? Jesus\u2019s response is, in today\u2019s world, politically incorrect:\u00a0\u201cYou worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth\u201d\u00a0<\/i>(John 4:22-24).<\/span><\/p>\n

REDEMPTION<\/h2>\n

Only when we receive the spiritual life that Jesus brings us can we become true worshippers of God, beneficiaries of this living water.\u00a0It involves a heart response to Jesus<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The woman responded,\u00a0\u201cI know that Messiah is coming\u201d (who is called Christ). \u201cWhen he comes, he will proclaim all things to us\u201d<\/i>.\u00a0<\/i>Jesus\u2019s words are breath-taking,\u00a0\u201cI am he, the one who is speaking to you\u201d<\/i><\/b>\u00a0– literally, \u2018I who am speaking to you, I am\u2019 (John 4:26).<\/span><\/p>\n

Twelve hundred years before, God had revealed his name to Moses:<\/b>\u00a0\u201cI am that I am that is my name\u201d.\u00a0<\/i>Jesus was not just claiming to be the Messiah but to be one with God.<\/span><\/p>\n

The water he promised would not just quench her thirst for real life, but would bring her into a deep, satisfying, and eternal friendship with the one true, creator-redeemer God.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 John G. Mason<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

veryone has regrets. We regret the words we let fly and never live down; the opportunities we messed up or ones we never took up; relationships we let slip and ones we should never have begun. There are all those past actions for which \u2018redemption\u2019 seems impossible. The playwright Arthur Miller, put it this way,\u00a0\u2018Maybe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-on-wednesday"],"yoast_head":"\n'I AM...' - The Anglican Connection<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Playwright Arthur Miller said, \u2018Maybe all one can do, is hope to end up with the right regrets\u2019. 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