What does it mean to you to worship? Does worship mean going through rote traditions? Does it mean reciting rote prayers? Do you only worship when you are in a specific place? Have you ever worshiped somewhere other than a church? Are you truly worshiping God?
We have many Christian traditions. They are not bad in and of themselves, but they can be meaningless if we do not know why we follow them. Reciting specific prayers fall into the same category. We need to truly mean the words. It is not about the place but the spirit or heart.
Jesus tells the woman at the well that the time had come to worship God in spirit. In effect, He told her the temple in Jerusalem was no longer the only place to worship God. That is a good thing for all of us who live thousands of miles away! Yet, for many of us, the church we attend has become the temple of the Jews. We think that building is the only place we can worship. According to Jesus Himself, that is a bunch of hogwash.
We can worship God at any moment in any place. Some of my best worship experiences have occurred on mountain tops, in a campground, or while mowing my lawn. In those times I pour my heart out to God and I can feel him there with me. If we want to feel the presence of God, we must pour our spirit into the worship. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Jesus tells us it is all about the spirit.
So, worship where you are. No, I am not saying we should not attend a worship service in a church. In fact, we need it—we need to worship with other believers as well. However, if at any time our worship doesn’t seem to be going well, we can blame no one but ourselves. Our worship is dependent upon us worshiping in spirit and truth. Nothing else.
I pray we all worship God every moment of every day. I pray we worship him in spirit and truth. I pray each one of us pour out our spirit to God each time we worship him. Worship God in spirit. Worship God in truth. Pour out your spirit to God. Worship God where you are.
John 4:21-24 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Marty Pressey 