Saturday, July 05, 2008

A Conversation With a Sinner

John 4:7 KJV
There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

There is a ton of great instruction in Jesus' interaction with the woman at the well. Today I am considering Christ's means of conversation and how He drew her to the truth.

First, Jesus spoke socially
Vs 7
He went to a social place and asked a social question. He asked for water. It is interesting that her first response was to ask what Jesus was doing in a place like that asking her a question like that. I wonder how often we as Christians go out of our own comfort zones to speak with sinners?

Second, Jesus spoke spiritually
Vs 10 and forward
The conversation moved from subjects of mere social consequence to subjects of spiritual nature. It is fine and good to begin conversations with sinners on subjects that are social, but we should not stay there. Jesus quickly transitioned the conversation into a spiritual one.

Thirdly, Jesus spoke scripturallyVs 19 and forward
Of course, everything Jesus said is the Word of God. But here the woman recognized she was speaking to a prophet. And the conversation transitioned again from a matter of a spiritual nature to specific matters of doctrine and Biblical truth.

While I doubt that we ever need to be too scripted in our conversations, yet to take note of this model in the Word of God, and to let it mold our conversational patterns would make a huge difference in our impact in our circles of influence.

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