Everyone longs for freedom!  Refugees cross oceans and climb mountains, risking their lives, so they can live in safety and freedom.  However, true freedom, is not based on our surroundings, but rather on what is in our hearts.

 

A person can live in a peaceful place, but have no peace in their hearts.  If you struggle with guilt, or are overcome with anxiety and fear, or have issues with anger and bitterness, you are not truly free.  In fact Jesus says we are really slaves to these negative and sinful thoughts.

 

No-one wants to be a slave.  A slave is trapped, under the control of some-one else, and has no freedom.  We are not called to lives like that, but to live as sons and daughters of God.  The only one who can set us free is Jesus.

 

Have you turned on a light at night and heard cockroaches scurrying for cover?  Light exposes things that hide in dark places.

 

One day some religious leaders drag a woman to Jesus, who they had caught having an affair.  They aren’t concerned about the woman at all, or even what she has done.  No, their intention is to trap and discredit Jesus.

 

However Jesus doesn’t answer their question, instead he bends down and writes on the ground with his finger.  We aren’t sure what he wrote, but perhaps it is what he says:  “If anyone has no sinful desires, then he can be the first one to throw a stone.”  Jesus then writes again.  Maybe this time he makes a list of sinful desires.

 

Everyone enjoys a cold drink on a hot day!  Our bodies crave and need fluids.  There are times though, when we don’t realise our need, and become dehydrated, simply because we don’t drink enough.  This can have serious consequences.

 

Don’t you think that perhaps Christians can become like this?  We have experienced the living water Jesus offers, but we have become dehydrated spiritually.  In the passage we are looking at today, Jesus gives us an invitation.  It isn’t just a one time offer.  No, this offer is an open invitation.  “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink,” said Jesus.  Whether we are aware of our thirst or not, we all desperately need to keep drinking of that living water.  We only have to come.