We Talk of Christ

Drink Deeply of the Living Water

By Matthew Heaps

Welfare Services

“Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst” (John 4:14).

My employment takes me to communities all over the world where people do not have access to clean water. Our group works with local governments and residents to provide maintainable sources of pure, life-sustaining water such as wells and spring or rain captures.

These water projects offer a significant improvement in the quality of life. Health drastically improves because clean water stops the contraction of typhoid, cholera, and other water-borne diseases. The economy also improves because parents and children who previously spent their time carrying water can now pursue employment and education. Even in communities with numerous and wide-ranging problems, people always say that clean water is what they would like most.

The Savior spent His earthly ministry in a time and place where people relied on wells for water. As He taught the woman at the well by saying that “whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst” (John 4:14), was He also teaching us that His gospel quenches—permanently—our most basic needs? I believe so.

I will always be grateful to a woman in Kenya, Africa, who taught me about willingness to work to obtain water. I met her at a celebration following the installation of a well in her community. With gratitude she told me that the new well would cut her daily nine-mile (14 km) trip to get water to a one-mile (1.6 km) trip. She was overjoyed at the opportunities that would now be hers.

I couldn’t help but think how I would feel if I had to walk a mile to get water. I was impressed that she put everything—from housework to gardening—aside while she made her journey to fetch water. She knew she couldn’t complete the other tasks without that water. I thought about how heavy her burden was. Carrying water takes strength and endurance. Yet, for the sake of her family, she was willing to walk nine miles every day to get it.

I wonder if we who get clean water from taps in our homes sometimes expect to come unto Christ with the same ease as turning a knob to get a glass of water. Or are we willing to put aside other tasks, even important ones, to seek to know Jesus Christ and His Father?

I know that the well of living water the Savior offers us never runs dry and is pure and life sustaining. When we come to Him with an empty cup, He will fill it, often beyond our capacity to receive. He is truly living water, a manifestation of the love of God.

What Is the Living Water?

• The living water is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• “The fountain of living waters … [is] a representation of the love of God” (1 Nephi 11:25).

• Living water can bring us “everlasting life” (John 4:14; D&C 63:23).

For more information on this topic, see 1 Nephi 8; 11; and Richard G. Scott, “The Transforming Power of Faith and Character,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2010, 43.

He Is the Living Water

“Do you wish to partake of this living water [spoken of in John 4:14] and experience that divine well springing up within you to everlasting life?

“Then be not afraid. Believe with all your hearts. Develop an unshakable faith in the Son of God. Let your hearts reach out in earnest prayer. Fill your minds with knowledge of Him. Forsake your weaknesses. Walk in holiness and harmony with the commandments.

“Drink deeply of the living waters of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (1917–2008) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “The Abundant Life,” Liahona and Ensign, May 2006, 100.

How Does the Living Water Bless Us?

Kathleen H. Hughes, former first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, helped answer this question in her general conference talk “Blessed by Living Water” (Liahona and Ensign, May 2003, 13).

1. The living water heals us through the power of the Holy Ghost.

2. The living water nourishes and sustains us (see Matthew 11:28).

3. The living water brings peace and joy (see John 14:27; D&C 101:16).

Consider reading 1 Nephi 11:25 with your family or a friend. Discuss the relationship between the fountain of living waters and the tree of life.

The Savior taught, “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 4:14).

The Well of Life, by Robert T. Barrett, may not be copied