Smiling at the passenger in the seat next to mine, I settled in with my belongings. Goodness! Air travel has certainly changed. 

Over the last several years, seat width and legroom have increasingly become smaller on airplanes. For someone who likes personal space, I keenly feel the difference. I shudder at the thought of spilling into the personal space of my fellow passenger. So throughout the flight I constantly checked my belongings. 

Understandably, we don’t like to invade the space of others, but some types of spillovers can be blessings. Jesus illustrated one of these in the gospel of John. During the course of His ministry, Jesus happened to meet a Samaritan woman next to a well. After asking her to give Him a drink, Jesus spoke to her of living water: 

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10 NIV).

When the woman struggled to understand the implications of this water, Jesus explained further:

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14 NIV).

Jesus compared the physical water we drink with the living water He offers. This water will spill over and satisfy our thirst. It will also overflow into eternal life.

For many years I struggled to understand what Jesus meant by this living water. Is it a metaphor for the blessings He gives us in this life as well as the one to come? Later in the gospel of John, Jesus clarified it for me:

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:37-39 NIV)

Jesus used the illustration of living water to describe the Holy Spirit. Before going to the cross, Jesus promised He wouldn’t leave His believers alone. He would send them a helper, the Holy Spirit, who would not only stay with them forever, but would also live in them (John 14:16-17). 

As Christians, the Holy Spirit lives in us and empowers us to live godly lives. The Spirit living in us spills over and produces the fruits of righteousness in our lives, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV).  

The Spirit also helps us be the light of Jesus in this world. As the Apostle Paul reminded Timothy, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner” (2 Timothy 1:7-8 NIV).

Finally, the Holy Spirit acts as a seal and guarantees our salvation. In essence, through the Holy Spirit we can rest secure in God’s promise of eternal life:

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:13-14 NIV).

As I continue down the road of my life’s journey, I want to continually experience the spill over of the Holy Spirit. I pray His influence in my life will bring glory to the One who sent Him. Wherever your travels take you, I pray you also will experience the overflowing blessings of the Holy Spirit.