April 17

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.” —JOHN 4:23-24

Many Christians assume that worship means singing songs before the preacher gets up to preach. I often go to speak at places and sometimes they’ll say, “We’ll have thirty minutes of worship and then you’re on.” What they mean is thirty minutes of singing. Of course, singing can be a right and proper expression of worship, but worship is much more than this. 

When Jesus encountered the woman of Samaria, retrieving water from a well, He engaged her in conversation in which they spoke about worship. She said to Him, “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem” John (4:20-21). She had not yet understood the true meaning of worship.

Worship of God does not have to take place in a specific location. It can take place anywhere at any time. Nor is it something we do for an hour on Sunday. Worship of God is an attitude of the heart. When Jesus said, “worship in spirit”, He means from the inner part of you, which is directed by the Holy Spirit’s activity within you. It’s an inward spiritual event, not an outward driven one. And “in truth” means that it’s based in response to a true understanding we have of God. It is an everyday disposition of love for God, obedience to God and dependence on God. 

To surrender our lives to Christ and live in the pursuit of His will is an expression of worship. Making ourselves available to Christ is an expression of worship. Our works and our giving can be an expression of worship. There are no impositions except that which the heart and the spirit demand of us out of our love for God. And if there are no impositions, except what our hearts and spirits demand, then there are no restrictions to our worship, except the parameters of truth. 

As we express our worship, we become healthy in spirit, and not to express it is to stifle a fundamental need of our emotions and our minds. Worship completes, in a very real sense, our love for God and our awe of God.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, it is a privilege and joy to worship You. Keep me mindful of the many ways I can do that, and help me to live with a disposition of heart that forever worships You. Thank You, Lord. 

TO REFLECT UPON: How does my worship of God reflect in my everyday life?