Christian faith requires a firm foundation. A desire for earthly gain is not that foundation. Yet in spite of this truth, many preachers focus upon the financial benefits of Christian living. They are selling a prosperity gospel focused on health and wealth. When the Samaritan woman was honest about her desire for living water, she wanted to lighten her workload, Jesus knew this would make a shaky foundation for a new life.

A new life in Christ requires us to acknowledge that our old life was built on sin and unrighteousness. We cannot start a new life until we lay a new foundation. Jesus knew the Samaritan woman needed to acknowledge her past and so He asked her to go and bring her husband back. When she replied that she had no husband, Jesus confronted her with the truth that she had had five husbands and was now living with a man out of wedlock. He did not condemn her for her past, but he did require her to acknowledge her past.

At this point, her mind and heart turned to the spiritual issues. She asked about the conflict between her beliefs and Jewish beliefs. Jesus’s reply revealed that her beliefs were based in ignorance and Jewish beliefs were based in arrogance. Both beliefs were limited to human understanding and earthly interpretations. True belief and true worship are issues for the spirit. We worship the Father in truth and in spirit. God is spirit, and we cannot worship Him if we do not know Him. The Samaritan woman was not spirit; she was flesh, and yet she had a desire to know God. She recognized she needed a Messiah (Savior) and was looking for His arrival. Jesus told her that He was the Messiah.

The Samaritan woman believed Jesus; her faith in Him replaced her trust in worldly things. Because of her faith, she was reconciled to God the father, and He forgave her sins. Her new life was built upon the foundation of her faith in Jesus.