On one occasion Jesus met a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and asked her for a drink of water.  She was taken back by the fact that He even spoke to her because Jews did not associate with Samaritans.  For that reason, her response was, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman, how can you ask me for a drink.”  Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would give you living water.”  “Sir,” She said, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep, where can you get this living water?”  Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  The water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 

Whenever I read this passage of Scripture, my mind goes back to my childhood days.  In the town close to our farm, one of the city parks had an artesian well.  It never stopped flowing.  They built around it and made a drinking fountain.  Every time us kids went to that park we wanted to go to the fountain for a drink of that “different tasting” water.  Also there was a neighbor a few miles from where we lived that had an artesian well on his farm.  Out in the field he had a pipe stuck in the ground and water flowed constantly through this pipe.  Its stream issuing from deep within the earth never diminished or varied even in times of drought. 

This constant flow of water gives us a picture of how God wants us to live our lives as Christians. Consistent living is hard to maintain.  Jesus describes it as not a well to which we have to keep dipping, but a “spring of water.”  This is His description of His presence within us as believers in the Person of the Holy Spirit. 

In Ephesians 5:15-18, the apostle Paul describes for us the source of how to maintain a consistent life style.  “Look carefully how you walk!  Live purposefully . . . not as unwise . . . but as wise.  Making the most of the time {buying up each opportunity.}  Therefore, do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding, and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is.” (Amplified version)  In verse 18 the apostle presents and analogy of what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  “Don’t be drunk with wine, but continue being filled with the Holy Spirit.”  When a person is drunk alcohol controls one’s speech and actions.  When a Christian is continually being filled with the Holy Spirit, God is in control of his speech and actions. 

In his book, I Lift Up My Soul, Charles Stanley states, “When the love and Spirit of Christ control us through His indwelling presence, we can live consistently.  Christ is our life, flowing through our wills, emotions, and personalities with His purity and power, enabling, steadying us in turmoil and disappointment . . . Tough times come, but they can never separate us from the constant, steadfast love of God.  He is our source.”