November 10th

Spirit and Truth

            The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.  Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”  Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

John 4:19-26

            I taught this passage dozens of times during my time in college and youth ministry.  Jesus is talking to the Woman at the Well and their interaction concludes with this exchange.  The question that my groups would always come down on was centered on Spirit and Truth.  “What does it mean to worship in Spirit and Truth?”

            It is an important question because Jesus says that those who worship in this way are the ones that He is seeking.  They are doing it the right way.  But Jesus does not clarify what He means and so we are left to figure it out ourselves.  One of the easiest tools that we used in our group discussions was looking at what the opposites would be.

            What is the opposite of Spirit?  It is Flesh, or a physical approach.  Worshipping in the Flesh would be doing all the right things, but not having your heart be in it.  It is going through the motions, pretending to be something that you are really not.  It is going to church on Sundays and living a life that is indistinguishable from the rest of the world during the week.  It is hypocrisy.

            If that is the case, then worshipping in Spirit would be having a heart that is tuned in to God.  It would having a heart that cares about what God cares about…a heart that rejoices with those who rejoice and weeps with those who weep…a heart that loves God and all those who are made in His image.  It would be a life of integrity where what we say we believe matches up with our actions.  That is worshipping in Spirit.

            The opposite of Truth is Lies.  Worshipping in lies is pretending that we are different than we truly are.  It is wearing a perma-smile and saying “fine” whenever someone asks how we are.  It is burying our needs and our wounds and our fears so deeply that no one will ever see them.

            Worshipping in Truth is bringing the reality of ourselves to Jesus.  It is admitting that we are hurt and we are broken and we are tired and we are lonely and we are scared of what tomorrow holds.  It is acknowledging that burying our pain does not heal it, it merely allows it to grow and fester.  It is owning our anger and our pettiness and our mistakes and hoping that God will love us through all of the mistakes.

            God seeks worshippers who are real…worshippers who come to Him in Spirit and Truth.  We do not need to put on a good show for Him to love us.  We do not need to amaze Him with our resume or our incredible skills and character.  All we need to do is come to Him as we are, in the fullness of who we are, and allow Him to speak healing into our deepest being.  That is worship in Spirit and Truth.

            So if you are exhausted,

                        If you are fed up,

                                    If you cannot stand the sight and sound of your children right now,

                                                If all hope has drained from your heart,

                                                            If you feel alone and think that prayer is just empty words,

                                                                        If you are getting by on sheer stubbornness

If you are any of these things, come to Jesus as you are.  You are who He is seeking.  Come with your heart that is filled with mixed motives.  Come with your body that is depleted from exertion.  Bring the fullness of what you carry on your shoulders each and every day.  God can handle it and you need not pretend that everything is just fine.

            The Father is seeking for those who will worship in Spirit and Truth…come as you are.

A moment to reflect:

How are you right now?  Be real with Jesus.