Issue 667 – Inside Out – February 26, 2022

A beautiful elm tree once stood in the centre front yard of a home we owned. An arborist told me it was a Manchurian Elm, but I’m unsure.

There are not a lot of elms in that part of the country because Dutch Elm disease has decimated the population. That made having the tree an extra blessing.

One of the loveliest looking trees in the neighbourhood, it made a real focal point for the small flower garden at its base. The shade from it fell nicely across our driveway. The robins loved to nest in it.

It was a lovely, healthy elm. Or so we thought until the day it fell into the driveway. Fortunately, we weren’t home at the time, so it didn’t hit either vehicle.

When the neighbourhood arborist came by to remove it, he commented on never having seen an elm die from the inside out as this one did. The only thing holding it up had been the outer few layers of the trunk and the bark.

Perfect looking on the outside and dying on the inside. I wonder how many people that describes. How many people in our social circles, families, or workplaces would be like that?

Holding it all together in front of others but secretly suffering from loneliness, shame, despair, addiction, eating disorders or a thousand other problems. Desperately in need of love, acceptance and forgiveness but not having anywhere to turn.

Jesus knew about hurts and how to handle them. He spoke to the Samaritan Woman at the well in a loving, non-judgmental way.

And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 

The Woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The Woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The Woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The Woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” John 4:4-26

Now the Samaritan Woman had her problems and sin. Jesus knew all about them, but consider the considerate gentle way He listened and spoke. It provides an excellent model for us.

Will you give an ear to those who are healthy on the outside but dying on the inside? Jesus did.

Until next time, may you take the time to honestly know and listen to those around you. May you become known as a person of integrity who can keep a confidence and be given many opportunities to share the love of Jesus.

If you are one of those people who are healthy on the outside but feel like you are dying on the inside, Jesus can change that.

Hallelu Yah (Praise God)

Be blessed. 

Kevin.

Gleanings From The Word.

Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

Soli Deo Gloria (for the glory of God alone.)

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All contents are © 2001, 2022 K. F. “Kevin” Corbin and Gleanings From The Word.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV). Spelling modified to Canadian English as required. 

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