Thought for the Week – 15th May 2016 – Dennis Pethers

In John 4 we read ‘Now Jesus had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”

Seeing people as Jesus sees them is, I believe, a necessary step if we are going to connect with them and help them to understand the truth about Jesus.  However, there is another step, and many of us find this a real challenge – at some point we have to say something!

This ‘saying something’ becomes a real barrier to many because we don’t know what to say!  We try to get it all right in our head before we say anything and then, when it comes to it, we lose confidence and don’t say anything.

I have found that the most helpful way to know what to say is not to try to prepare it all in advance.  Rather, it is to follow the example of Jesus and rather than ‘say’ something – ask a question!  This does not have to be a complicated question, my favourite is ‘how are you?’  and then being prepared to listen to the response.

Over the next few weeks I will expand on this but for now, this week, why not approach a person that you know and simply ask them how they are and then listen!