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Jesus wants to partner with us
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39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Many Samaritans believed because the women shared her story. She was becoming more and more convinced that Jesus was the Christ, and she led her friends directly to him. Once they met him, they recognized he was the Savior of the world. It’s obvious that Jesus used this woman to help the Samaritans believe, but was sharing Jesus with others a requirement?
Sometimes we hear a debate between grace and works. Paul seems to be screaming, “by grace, you’ve been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). He reminds us that grace is a gift and it’s not earned by anything we’ve done. This woman did not earn her salvation by telling her friends. Yet, James says, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). If this woman did not care to share her story with others and she wasn’t interested in living out of the new life she’d been offered at the well, then faith would have appeared absent.
Thankfully this woman’s story is one of faith and works. She’s excited to partner with Jesus in sharing the good news and she joins in. She freely shares her story of grace and leads her friends to Jesus. Now, her friends get the chance to experience the new life Jesus has to offer, too. The beauty of living out the grace we’ve been given is that we don’t do it alone. We partner with Jesus and Jesus wants to partner with us. We enter the world, share our story and live out our faith, and Jesus does the heavy lifting of changing people. Today, think about what story of grace you’d want to tell others about and ask Jesus for an opportunity to share it with someone this week.[/vc_column_text][us_separator height=”25px” size=”custom”][vc_column_text]
By Yvonne Biel
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