High Definition

We have a big screen TV on our wall. It’s a high definition TV. I walked into the family room one night, looked at the normally very beautifully polished woman on TV, and screamed in shock. You see, the high definition TV was too high definition! Her make up was visibly caked on and harsh, so that her flaws and plastic surgery scars were obvious, instead of masked and hidden. Everything seemed to be amplified, but not in a good way.  

The idea of high definition is to make the images on the TV screen appear life-like and real. I’m sure this woman did not plan or know how exposed and uncovered she really was that day. Likewise, we may think we can cover our flaws and sins so that others can’t see them. But, God sees us in High Definition.

This reminds me of the encounter that Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.  Jesus came to the well and was thirsty. He told the woman to give Him some water to drink. She explained to Jesus that she had to come to the well every day to get water and He explained that He had living water. “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 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) 

That water sounded great to her! She wouldn’t have to come do all that heavy, hard work every day to satisfy her thirst. But, in verses 15-19, we see that Jesus pinpoints that she does not just have a physical thirst; she has had a thirst, a need, or a lust for something else.

She already had 5 husbands and her current man was not her husband. Jesus saw her in high definition. What was she thirsty for? A relationship? Love? Sex? A man? Marriage? Bad relationships? No matter what we may try to cover up, God can always see our issues, hurts, motivations and actions. He knows exactly why we do what we do. And He knows how to get us on track.

Get a glass. Fill it just 20% with water. That leaves 80% of the glass that is still empty. If the glass were your life, what would the 80% be? How much would be Jesus and the things of God?

We do and should thirst for God, but our soul also has the tendency, like the Samaritan woman, to thirst for other things. Maybe things like: (and these are in no particular order) love, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, gossip, a man, money, the easy Christian way, popularity, friends, addictions, success, work, food, busy-ness, perfection, family, friends, and so many other things.  1 John 2:16 tells us to be ware of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Eve listened to the lies of the serpent and fell into the enemy’s trap of lust. Somehow she lost sight of what she had and thought she needed to fill her 80% with other things—not God. How many times have we been in that same place?

But God has designed us to be filled up and overflowing with Him-His goodness, His love and to live in His redemption. God doesn’t need His daughters to be covering their faults like a bad concealer, hiding from their sins, or continuing in wrong-thinking.

He wants us to be free. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1) He wants us to be healed, whole and cleansed from all unrighteousness.  Matthew 5:6 says, “blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” In the Amplified Version, Matthew 5:6 says that they shall be completely “satisfied.”

Jesus is the only One Who can satisfy. May we let His love transform us and quench every thirst in our souls today!  When the Samaritan woman received Jesus and what He said, she was forever transformed. She told everyone about Jesus. She was bold, beautiful, and free from every bondage that kept her hiding from life. She was free and in true high definition.  Tune in to God today and live in His High Definition, too.

- Pastor Cheryl Ward

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