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READ: JOHN 4:4-30, 39-42\n\n\n\nWhen I was 18, I took part in a scholarship program to earn money for college. All the participants stayed with host families during the week of rehearsals and competition. Volunteer drivers picked us up for events and then returned us to our host homes in the evening.\n\n\n\nOn the final night, I loaded my bags into the driver\u2019s car for the short trip to the auditorium. Impulsively, I locked the car door as I shut it. Then I realized my mistake\u2014I had locked the car while it was running, locking all of us out of the vehicle. I dreaded walking back inside the host home to explain how I\u2019d messed up.\n\n\n\nBut they all responded in a way I hadn\u2019t expected. They laughed with me (not at me) and quickly devised a plan. Our driver stayed with the car, waiting for a locksmith, while a host parent stepped in to drive my group to the auditorium. That evening, nobody scorned me for my mishap, which had certainly caused inconvenience. Instead, they surprised me with grace, with patience instead of criticism. I felt I didn\u2019t deserve their kindness, yet they extended it anyway.\n\n\n\nThis experience reminds me of John 4, when Jesus talks with a Samaritan woman at a well. She had a messy past, and it\u2019s likely she came to the well when she thought no one else would be there. She probably didn\u2019t feel she merited tenderness, either, especially from the Savior. Yet that\u2019s how Jesus approached her, with gentleness and patience, loving her into relationship with Himself. He spoke to her about salvation and worship, and He revealed that He already knew everything about her. He told her the truth about her life and extended His grace.\n\n\n\nWhen we trust in Jesus, as the Samaritan woman did, we receive forgiveness from all our sins and we are credited with His perfect righteousness. Because Jesus died for us and rose again, we can be counted blameless in God\u2019s sight (Ephesians 1:4; Colossians 1:22). And now, as God\u2019s forgiven people, we are called to extend His patience, gentleness, and love toward others who don\u2019t seem to deserve it. Like Jesus did for the woman at the well. Like my roommates did for me the night I locked us out of our car. \u2022 Allison Wilson Lee\n\n\n\n\u2022 Can you think of a time someone showed you patience and gentleness in a meaningful way? What was it like?\n\n\n\n\u2022 When we\u2019re tempted to beat ourselves up over our mistakes or sins, how can remembering Christ\u2019s gentleness help us come to Him and receive His help?\n\n\n\nBe completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2 (NIV)