Tag Archives: drifting away from God

Please turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 4.

Last week we saw that Jesus “must needs go through Samaria” (vs 4). Jesus had a divine appointment to share the Gospel with a Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob. As Jesus shared the Gospel with this woman, we read a parenthetical statement – John 4:8 – which said:

John 4:8 (For His disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat).

What CITY had they gone to? It’s the city of Sychar. Now this Bible is written by God, through Holy Men who love the Lord. There are no coincidences in this Bible. Every word is important. So when it tells us that the “disciples were gone away unto the city”, we need to look at the city of Sychar. This city is only mentioned one time in the Scripture, in this chapter. The name “Sychar” has an interesting meaning. The Greek meaning is “to be drunken – a place of drunkenness”. Jesus is on a mission to save the soul of a woman a a well, but His disciples – Christians – are off doing what they think is more important. They are buying “MEAT”.

Are ALL the disciples off somewhere else buying meat? No. The Apostle John, who loves Jesus, is still with the Lord. We know this because John wrote down what happened with the woman at the well.

John stayed with Jesus – but the other disciples thought it was more important to go to Sychar – a place called “Drunken” – and buy “MEAT”.

It is so easy to drift away from God in your faith. The drifting is very subtle. You have important things to do. You want to spend some time with your family. There’s something you want to see on television. You need to go to the store. So you leave Jesus sitting beside a well with a Samaritan woman while you go and do something much more important…. Continue reading →