In John 4, Jesus meets an outcast of a woman at a well in Samaria. In those days, Jews typically avoided Samaria because they didn’t associate with Samaritans. Yet Jesus, himself a Jew, traveled into Samaria and stopped during the middle of the day. I just know, deep down in my heart, that Jesus went to Samaria for eternal purposes. I know he went to that well to meet that woman. During that time, when people wanted to encounter God, they went to specific locations, such as mountain tops or other sacred places. Jesus tells this woman:

“The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
— John 4:23-24

He not only tells this woman that God is seeking people, but he makes it known that they don’t have to be in a particular place — that true worshipers will worship him in spirit and truth. This means that true worship can happen anywhere, and that worship doesn’t have to do with external factors anymore.

Jesus did everything with purpose. Jesus reveals this new truth about worship and encountering God to a Samaritan woman with a crazy past and sinful lifestyle. What does this mean for us? God wants you. Right where you are. You don’t have to position yourself in a church or some other “perfect” setting, because he is ready for you now. Satan fills us with confusion and fear, causing us to doubt that Jesus wants us, but Jesus does! And the coolest thing is, like with the woman at the well, Jesus might encounter you when you are in the worst setting possible.

No matter what you’re filling your life with to satisfy you, whether you’re redeemed already or not, Jesus wants to fill that place. No marriage, no job, no child, no drug could ever fill you like the Living Water can. Jesus wants to give you abundant life and wants you to know you don’t have to be in the right place to meet him. He’s waiting patiently, right where you are. Invite him in.