STAY! Just a little bit longer

John 4:39-42

Several Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus because of what the woman said in evidence about him: “He told me everything I did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them. And he stayed there two days.

Many more believed because of what he said.

“We believe, too,” they said to the woman, “but it’s no longer because of what you told us. We’ve heard him ourselves! We know that he really is the one! He’s the Savior of the world!”

This is the “aftermath” of Jesus’s encounter with the woman at the well. I love this. There’s a lot going on here.

It is one thing to believe. A very, very important thing that we do indeed believe. Yet it must be followed up with going directly to Jesus.

the Samaritans came to him

Many people believe in Jesus, but rarely if ever go to him with reckless intention.

To not only go, but to stay. To ask Jesus to hang out.

they asked him to stay with them

Stay. Abide. Remain. This Greek word (meno) has the connotation to lodge. To stay overnight. To shack up for a bit. To continue, dwell, endure, be present. To stay in a given place, state, relation, or expectancy. Stay in one’s company.

There’s no sense of hurry here. No rush. No checklist mentality. It’s more like what Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs sang long ago: “STAY! Just a little bit longer.”

And he stayed there two days.

I bet that was an incredible two days.

Because there’s something powerful about hearing of God’s work through someone’s story, but it’s a whole other deeper level when you hear directly from God yourself, amen?

We’ve heard him ourselves!

And this is what can so beautifully happen in the distraction-free, unobstructed time given unhurriedly to simply abiding in Christ for a while. When you take your overnight bag and stay, as opposed to doing a drive-by wave.

I believe Jesus loves it when we do this, and rewards us a hundredfold in it. And I have come to believe recently that the enemy’s number one goal, for us who believe, is to do whatever it takes to keep us from constant communion with our Father. Disrupt that, and you disrupt our supply line for spiritual Life.

One way I describe this “meno” is to have some amount of time everyday in which the only thing on your mind is God. This could be 4 minutes, or 40. Think about it though, just 4 minutes straight of nothing within your attention but God alone—that’s no small thing. So much competes for our awareness, that a relatively small amount of intensive focus can go a very long way throughout the day.

Remember, Christianity is not merely a topic to be discussed, but a Life to be experienced and lived.