True worship is deeply spiritual
This week’s episode takes you on a journey back to Jacob’s well when Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman about true worship.
Imagine for a minute that you are there as one of Jesus’s disciples and how you felt when you saw your Master talking to “that woman.”
But when you found out what they were talking about, you realized that Jesus had just revealed a powerful truth: God is Spirit and must be worshiped in spirit and truth.
What is true worship?
Jesus was very specific in how he defined worship and that we must worship the Father. It’s not about where you are or how you hold your hands, or a certain ritual. True worship is in the heart.
Jesus knew that we can go through the outward motions and say the right words, but it’s what’s going on inside our thinking that matters.
True worship changes us. It purifies us. It baptizes us in God’s love. And it transforms the way we see and treat others.
How do you worship?
When you worship, is it a function of the human mind and intellect? Is it about how many Bible verses you know and can quote by memory? Is it about how elaborate your prayers are?
Hopefully not.
The best way to worship is not just with your human mind. Have you ever thought about worshiping God the way Jesus did? Paul says we have “the mind of Christ.” Isn’t it time to use it?
That means we can worship like Jesus
Since we have the mind of Christ, we can worship God the way he did. We can love the way Jesus did. And our lives will bear the fruit of the Spirit the way Jesus did.
Worshiping God means loving all God’s children
When you know God as infinite Spirit, filling the universe with the divine presence, you will worship Him in spirit and in truth. And you will be able to help people in the same way Jesus did.
When the “Samaritan woman” of today comes to you, you will not run away or deem her unworthy of your attention. You will see the opportunity to help someone and share the love of Christ.
In Episode 4, Are You Afraid to Love as Much as Jesus Did? I share an experience when I was able to minister to someone I normally would not have talked to.
I would love to hear your thoughts about worshiping God.
Have a great week.
Blessings,
James
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Bible references this week:
See John, Chapter 4
Psalm 96:9 ESV
9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; [beauty of holiness ,KJV]
tremble before him, all the earth!
Jeremiah 31:33, 34 ESV
33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Acts 17:22-25, 29 ESV
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.
23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, [Greek-by hands]
25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
Matthew 7:6 ESV
6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
1 Corinthians 2:16 ESV
16 …we have the mind of Christ.
