Lent 2014: Samaritan people

John 4:28-30,39-42

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Unlike the people of Gerasenes, the people of Sychar were eager to hear the words of Jesus and have Him minister to them. Christ reached out to one woman, who evangelized all her friends and neighbors, who came to believe in Jesus directly because they heard the truth and compassion He spoke to them.
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I firmly believe in the importance of choosing many things for my children while they are young. They brush their teeth and their hair, they eat vegetables as well as sweets, they apologize for wrongdoing toward their siblings, and they read Scripture and pray daily because I make those choices for them. Someday they will either choose those things for themselves or will reject them and choose another path. But I know that my role in their walk with Christ is somewhat like that of the Samaritan woman: I share with them my own experience, bring them to Him, and give Him the opportunity to minister to them. It is up to Him to touch their hearts so they will believe out of their own experience and no longer only because of my experience. And I will be praying for them, that they may choose to invite Him to stay with them for all their lives.