Today’s devotion explores how our treatment of God during services reflects our relationship with Him. Do you worship Him in Spirit and in Truth?

Bible Reading Day 132
AM – 2 Kings 4,5
PM – John 4:1-30

𝕿𝖎𝖙𝖑𝖊: 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖕 𝕳𝖎𝖒 𝖎𝖓 𝕾𝖕𝖎𝖗𝖎𝖙 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖎𝖓 𝕿𝖗𝖚𝖙𝖍
𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝟒:𝟐𝟐,𝟐𝟒 𝐊𝐉𝐕
𝒀𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒚𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕: 𝒘𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑: 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑱𝒆𝒘𝒔. ²⁴ 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕: 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉.

Jesus confronted the Samaritan woman at the well with the issue of true worship. He plainly told her, “Ye worship ye know not what.” Her worship was wrong because her concept of God was incorrect. People tend to worship God based on their own understanding of Him. True worship must be directed to the real God; otherwise, it becomes the worship of an idol— a false god. Later, John admonished Christians, “𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏, 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒊𝒅𝒐𝒍𝒔” (𝟏 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝟓:𝟐𝟏). Even a Christian can be guilty of worshiping an idol if the god they worship is not the God revealed in the Bible.

A false preacher once said, (before dismissing his words because he was a false preacher, remember that even a broken clock is correct twice daily. 😆) “the god of the cannibals will be a cannibal. The god of the Crusaders will be a crusader. The god of the merchants will be a merchant.” 𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐬 𝟏:𝟏𝟑 states, “𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒃𝒖𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒍𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉.” There is a clear link between the god you worship and your way of life. To some extent, you will mirror the “𝖌𝖔𝖉” you serve. If your god is holy, you are likely to be holy. If your god is cruel and harsh, you may develop a harsh streak. If your god is compassionate, you will likely show compassion.

Some religious groups place a Saint Christopher statue on their car dashboard for protection, as he is considered the patron saint of travellers. I’ve heard of seminary students who, when they saw such a statue tilted on someone’s dashboard, would tell the owner, “It won’t work if it’s crooked.” Usually, the owner would immediately attempt to straighten the statue. While we might find their belief amusing, there is a kernel of truth in what those students said—🆈🅾️🆄🆁 🅶🅾️🅳 🆆🅾️🅽’🆃 🆆🅾️🆁🅺 🅸🅵 🅸🆃’🆂 🅲🆁🅾️🅾️🅺🅴🅳.

Make sure that the God you worship is the one revealed in Scripture, not a god of your own creation. Confirm that the God we honour is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the Creator of the universe. The manner in which we approach our worship reflects our understanding and knowledge of who our God truly is.