"The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:19-24)

I have heard all my life that this means we must follow the spirit and do and teach the right things in our worship. While I agree wholeheartedly with this statement, I believe there is even more to be found in this passage.

To worship in spirit means that we must do it from our very core. We have already seen in a previous study that God knows everything about us including our thoughts and intentions. We should then realize that He also knows then our worship is not truly heartfelt.

By practicing superficial worship as a matter of routine or custom, we not only rob God of His gloy, we rob ourselves of a deeper fellowship with Him!

Truth does mean that there is an absolutely true doctrine and we should strive to learn and teach it. But at the same time, we need to be sure that we don't forget Truth Himself. Jesus is Truth! Our worship must be focused on Him and centered on Him at every moment.

I pray that my worship and yours grows more each day into a deep and passionate love for our merciful Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

He holds us captive by love and grace. Therefore, we should be captivated with Him!