Loading more...
An Embrace from the Church Family
In the late 1990s, the youth of First United Methodist Church of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, were burdened Read More
Sharon G. Austin | Read John 4:27-38
Sign Up Today and get full access to the daily Discipline and the rest of The Upper Room content FREE for 30 days.
Sign Up TodayMy reading of the Gospel accounts of Jesus and the disciples
sometimes surprises me that the disciples were surprised.
After all, I think, they were with Jesus.
The scripture lesson today provides yet another account in
which they respond to the surface story and miss the deeper
meaning. The disciples...
Jesus, help me to disengage my preoccupations and listen. You are a loving teacher; may I become your willing pupil. Amen.
All the readings af rm God’s benevolent care of those who place their well-being in God’s hands. While imperishable, God’s love can be frustrated by human pride and faithlessness. Water is an important symbol of God’s sustaining grace. In Exodus 17 the Israelites’ dependence on water becomes a statement about their dependence on God. The manner in which they obtain their water stands as commentary on human pride and arrogance. The psalm recounts this episode as a means of warning the people against the kind of obstinacy that impedes grace. John 4 focuses on the full actualization of God’s love in Jesus Christ through the “living water.” Paul speaks of God’s love being “poured into our hearts,” a grace that comes in the death and life of Jesus Christ.
• Read Exodus 17:1-7. When have you complained to God about a situation, only to discover God had already begun to forge a way through?
• Read Psalm 95. How does weekly worship allow you to hear God’s voice? How do you testify to God’s goodness?
• Read Romans 5:1-11. Reflect on a time when your suffering produced endurance and ultimately character.
• Read John 4:5-42. How do the words of Paul to Timothy about a worker “who correctly handles the word of truth” serve as a bridge between the “truth hurts” and the “truth will set you free”?
Respond by posting a prayer.
"Wherever I’m appointed to serve as pastor I plan on encouraging our youth to participate in a Discovery Weekend. Knowing that The Upper Room is a part of building the content, I can trust it as a Wesleyan spiritual formation resource for youth." Learn more about Discovery Weekend here.
