Well, Are You?

13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

John 4:13-14 (KJV)

1 Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east. 2 And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well's mouth. 3 And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in his place. 4 And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we. 5 And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him. 6 And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep. 7 And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them. 8 And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they roll the stone from the well's mouth; then we water the sheep.

9 And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep: for she kept them. 10 And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother.

Gen 29:1-10 (KJV)

Ok, we have two stories that occur by a well. In the first, listed second we find that a stone is over the well. This was done so that the sun did not dry up the well, or so that pollutants did not get in the well and poison the water, or that the well did not fill with dust and become shallow or nasty. All of these reasons were a good one to wait until evening when all the flocks were gathered. In the second story, listed first, Jesus is speaking to a woman at a well. He compares the physical well to His followers, a.k.a., Christians.

So, why write about these two facts? I want to ask you a question and myself a question. Are we spoiled, shallow, or just dried up by the world? Before I can answer this question I need to determine how effectively I have been at guarding my life against the influences of the world (Satan's philosophical playground). If I have not thought it necessary to guard against this influence then chances are my flowing water is cloudy in the ethics bucket, or speech bucket, or internet bucket, or movie bucket, or TV show bucket. It could be worse it could be a mud pie of these things. Now I do not want to drink these last two analogies and chances are you do not want to drink them either. Therefore, why did I allow this to happen? Because I like to push the envelope of acceptability and walk up against sin with the narrowest of margins that still says to the outside observer, "See I am separated from the world." However, what is the cost for this way of thinking? I could be clearer, deeper, and not so thirsty.

Ok, one example from my struggles. CSI, I really like this show, is not a good show to watch for me and likely not for others. It is entertaining and I know it is about the scientist who catch the bad guys, and that is great. However, with each piece of evidence I get to visualize a murder, rape, beating, shooting, stabbing, poisoning, or freak accident, over and over again. I am placing violence in my well. How can my water supply not be affected? Just a thought from me, what do you think?