Conviction and Confession: Opening the Doors of Perception

by | Posted April 16th at 11:22am

Let’s look at the story of the woman at the well. Jesus walked from town to town sharing the good news of His Gospel.

I want to reveal how our thinking can be influenced by the world in which we live and can keep us locked inside the darkness of our own personal asylum. Yet there is a way out.

Photo: Doors of Perception, Glen Jackman

“He had to travel through Samaria, so He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property that Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, worn out from His journey, sat down at the well. It was about six in the evening. (John 4: 4-6 HCSB)

I was impressed with the gentle condescending of our Lord as He patiently talked with the woman of Samaria — the woman at the well.

As she approaches the well, He begins speaking to her by asking for a favour. “Give Me a drink.” She immediately asks Him a question: “How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman…Jews do not associate with Samaritans” (John 4: 7-9) She firstly thinks of her religious differences with this stranger. After all, most Jews would not even speak to her, a Samaritan.

Jesus replied, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.” (vs10) Now she counters by pointing out that Jesus doesn’t even have the physical means to draw water from this well inherited from Jacob, the forefather of both the Jew and the Samaritan. She evidently understands that they are distant kindred-cousins, noting their mutual ancestry.

At this juncture of the conversation, Jesus is graceful, lovingly sharing an important truth about His identity: “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.” (vs 13-14) She responds, again still in the dark as to His spiritual meaning of “living water” — He will impart the Holy Spirit to open up her mind to see that she is talking to the Saviour of the world. She said: “Sir, give me this water, so I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.”

The same was our condition when God, in infinite mercy, began His dealings with us—our eyes remained closed to the perfections of God’s Son, Jesus, — we hid as it were our faces from him. The dialogue shows the trend of her thoughts. Her mind centres upon wells and buckets! She is a representative character of humans staving off divine approach. Her mind is of the world — its religious differences — its duties and employments—she cannot rise to any higher thoughts: she could not discern who it was that addressed her, nor what He was offering. Many are being kept away from the things of Christ by the things of time and sense.

Now her mind is less resistant, as the Holy Spirit convicts her of the darkness wherein she has lived her life. She confesses to him that she hasn’t got a husband when Jesus said to her “go and get your husband and come back here”. He replied: “You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband…you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” (vs. 18)

Here is where the miracle work of the Holy Spirit’s grace touches her. “Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that You are a prophet”. (vs. 19) Her spiritual eyes are opening: she sees — perceives that Jesus is a spokesman of God, as she is convicted that her life has been a living hell on earth — she is not free from sin and corruption, of inherent mental chaos which has blinded her from life’s best. And she confesses that, yes, Jesus has revealed the disappointing nature of her life.

Jesus said: “But an hour is coming, and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and truth.” (vs 23-24) Further, “The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” (vs. 24)

It was the conviction of sin that Jesus used gently to help her drop her guard, open up her heart to God, unlock any barrier that could stop Him from opening her mind to hear this truth clearly: “I am He,” Jesus told her, “the One speaking to you.” (vs. 26)

First the Spirit convicts each of us of our sin, then of our need of Christ who gave His life as an atonement for our sins. We have a lot in common with this woman.

The inability to see Jesus or hear Him speaking to us through the Gospel or a sermon is normal for human nature. We are all insane to a degree until we allow the Holy Spirit to open our mind to perceive who Jesus is – the one who can translate us out of darkness into the light. Living water is a metaphor for the Holy Spirit, whose work is to “teach us all things” about Christ. He opens our minds to spiritual realities, to know Christ and the presence of His indwelling.

Her mind was preoccupied with the world—its duties and employments—and hence she could not rise to any higher thoughts: she could not discern who it was that addressed her, nor what He was offering. And thus it is with all who are of the world: they are kept away from the things of Christ by the things of time and sense. Jesus in His parable of the sower of the Word warns that “the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things” (Mark 4:19 NLT)

This woman broke free — she came to her senses. As the story goes, she ran off to tell the whole town and brought them back to see Jesus for themselves.

Until we come to Christ, confessing our sins, we will wallow in darkness and sin’s entanglements and will not experience the joy of salvation. When we do come to accept Him the Holy Spirit will translate our mindset out of the darkness as we come into His light.

Article posted by Glen R. Jackman, founder of GraceProclaimed.org

Glen has optimized his eldership role to teach the full scope of the New Covenant of Jesus Christ without boundaries.
You can read his testimony.