SPIRITUAL REALM: Daily Reading Plan #6
John 4:24
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.
God is not simply a more complex physical being, or a limited creature. In other words, God is not restricted to seeing, hearing, or being in a single location, like the false gods of most religions. This also helps to keep Genesis 1:26 in context. The fact that man is created in "the image" of God does not mean we have some physical resemblance to Him. We share his moral and rational nature.
John 3:5-6
Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
The idea of worshiping the Lord "in spirit and truth" comes from Jesus' conversation with the woman at the well in John 4:6-30. In the conversation, the woman was discussing places of worship with Jesus, saying that the Jews worshiped at Jerusalem, while the Samaritans worshiped at Mount Gerizim. Jesus had just revealed that He knew about her many husbands, as well as the fact that the current man she lived with was not her husband.
This made her uncomfortable, so she attempted to divert His attention from her personal life to matters of religion. Jesus refused to be distracted from His lesson on true worship and got to the heart of the matter: "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him" (John 4:23).
Reflection Questions
- What do these verses say about the spiritual realm and worshiping God?
- What do these verses call me to do as a result of taking them to heart?
