John 3.23-24 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the
Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who
worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (ESV)
You know what God is seeking – I mean besides the lost?
God is seeking such people to worship Him in spirit and truth. Wow! God is
looking for those who will come to Him spiritually – that is, to come to Him
outside of the norms of earth: form, ritual, rite, rote, and religion. The
Father is seeking the non-religious to worship Him honestly and openly without
a bunch of fanfare and flare: just spirit and just truth.
Now, to be sure there isn’t just spirit for just
spirit is really only true spirit; and true spirit transcends everything else. Just spirit isn’t a benchmark or a merit
badge, it is a hallmark of true faith. God seeks true worship, not
religiousness.
So the Father is seeking those who really truly are
seeking Him. And they seek Him in spirit, which means by means of the Holy
Spirit (God within) and through their spirit: the place of communion inside us
which connects with God. True seeking begets true spirit and true spirit is
what the Father is looking for.
Jesus was proclaiming a new world order in which the old
ways of rituals, sacrifices, and form were replaced by a seeking heart indwelt and enabled by God’s own Spirit. That’s the only way spirit and truth are going to happen –
if God is in the midst of it; all else falls short. No sense in settling for
less when one can have it all, right?
The new world order is not for the world, but for the ones
who accepts it as it is: spirit and truth. True worshipers know this and run
after it. True worshipers won’t settle for anything less. True worshipers know there is only one air to breathe: the breath of God in true truly
spiritual worship.
Father, it isn’t form You’re looking for, it’s heart. A
true heart is an indwelt heart, and from it flows true worship of Spirit, and
truth: the kind You like, and the kind that enables the worshiper to connect
with You on Your terms, not his own. Find in me true worship of spirit and truth
– may I be such a person… amen.
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