Worship in Spirit and Truth

John 4:24, God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

One of the oldest commandments in the Bible deals with how we worship. We all know that worshiping God involves the totality of life, and thus it cannot be confined to a particular location or concentrated in a mere hour or two on a given day.

We worship God in truth and spirit. This means to focus our worship on imitating the Father in the totality of life. We are to use no material aids in doing this because no one can capture in a work of art what God is. God forbids worship of idols created by human hands.

God wants us to concentrate on what He is, and not on what He looks like.

When asked what the first and great commandment of the law is, Jesus replied, quoting Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). Anything less will affect the quality of our worship. This can be too hard to reach for, requiring a lifetime of growth in wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and character built by overcoming the world, the flesh, and the Devil.

Worshiping God in spirit and truth means living our lives according to His will. We present our lives as a living sacrifice to God. Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. Rom 12:2  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God. We transform our lives into what is good and pleasing to His will. Anything less can affect our worship.

This is the same with what Apostle Peter is trying to say, 1Pe 1:15  but according to the Holy One who has called you, you also become holy in all conduct, that in all manners of our lives, we make it holy in the sight of God.

Worship in Spirit and Truth, thus require us to walk in His words, changing our wicked ways and keeping His commandments. Eph 4:21  if indeed you have heard Him and were taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus. Eph 4:22  For you ought to put off the old man (according to your way of living before) who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, Eph 4:23  and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Eph 4:24  And you should put on the new man, who according to God was created in righteousness and true holiness. Eph 4:25  Therefore putting away lying, let each man speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Eph 4:26  Be angry, and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath, Eph 4:27  neither give place to the Devil.

Worshiping is not only a ritual. It is a way of life.

How we live our lives will reflect the way we worship Him.