Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.

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Dear Friends:

Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon (Jn 4:6).

It is noon, the hottest part of the day. It is the time that early Christians believed carried the particular temptation of acedia, the noonday demon–a physical lassitude, mental boredom and apathy that lulls one into dropping his or her spiritual guard and giving way to the desires of the flesh. Those of us who spend the day peering into monitors and hunched over desks can relate.

I don’t know about you, but it gives me great comfort to know that my Savior knows the exertion, the weariness, the heat and the sweat that marks the human struggle in this world and tempts us to quit or settle for the cheap and the easy. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:15-16).

The danger of the test is rarely in the big crisis, in the clear-cut choice between good and evil. Rather, it is in the banal and the dreary that flesh finds the need for indulgent action irresistible.

It is hot. Jesus is tired. The well was dug by his ancestor Jacob for his household and flocks. It is right there with cold, sweet water, but Jesus has no vessel and rope with which to reach it. What to do? Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Christianity, Devotional, Kent Hansen, word of Grace

Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.

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Dear Friends:

So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph (Jn 4:5).

Historical landmarks fascinate me. Why people came to a place and what they did there helps us to remember that we are not alone and that we are later chapters of a story that began long ago. I used to beg my dad to stop whenever I spotted a California State Historic Landmark along the road during family trips.

There is a tremendous power for good in memory. Remembering where one has come from and what was encountered on the way is a key element in mental health. Without a connection to our past we have no sense of growth, no reason to hope for the future. Grace and mercy bless in what they help us to overcome.

Memory is the key to gratitude. “These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God” (Ps 40:4-5).

The walk into Sychar would bring bittersweet memories to Jesus’ mind. The ancient name of this place was Shechem, which means “shoulder” referring to the rounded hills leading up to Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. Here, under the great and sacred oak Moreh, the Lord appeared to Abraham and told him, “To your offspring I will give this land.”  Abraham built an altar to the Lord there in reverence of this encounter (Gen 12:6-7).

Jacob bought a field there and erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel, “the God of Israel” (Gen 33:18-20). After the shameful massacre of the Amorites by his sons, Jacob apparently took more land when he came under attack by the local inhabitants. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: A Word of Grace, Christianity, Devotional, Kent Hansen