Jesus met a sinful woman at a well and he changed her life. Then she told her neighbors and “Many of the Samaritans…believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony” (John 4:39). But they didn’t just take her word for who He was. They spent two days listening to Jesus, and they came to personal knowledge and a personal relationship with Him. “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world” (v. 42). (Read John 4:1-42)
Too many of us have settled for a second-hand relationship with God. We go to church every Sunday and listen to the words that are preached. We may go to Sunday School and hear the lesson brought by the teacher from the material of a writer who doesn’t know us. We may even go so far as to attend a Bible study class and listen to the leader, and read the lesson. But we often fail to make it our own. We settle for what someone else tells us about God, and we wonder why He is so distant. But God created you so that you might have a deeply intimate and personal relationship with Him. Jesus came to interact personally with people. He sends His Holy Spirit to live in us – you can’t get more intimate than that. God knows your heart and your needs, and He has a Word just for you. He has a purpose just for you. You won’t find it anywhere else but at His feet.
I will teach the Bible for as long as He gives me breath. There is so much to learn, and so much to share, the Word of the Lord never gets stale or boring. But my ultimate goal is to teach myself out of a job – to stir in you a hunger and passion for the Word, and the God who wrote it. I pray that you make His Word your own and that you never settle for a second-hand relationship with the One who created you, loves you, and died for you. Beloved, I pray that you will be able to say, with Job, “My ears had heard of you – but now – my eyes have seen you” (Job 42:5).
Deeper Roots 