“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.” (John 4:23)
Once a Samaritan woman tried to debate with Jesus as to what was the best time, place and style of worship. Jesus answered her that these external details were irrelevant. Where you worship is not as important as to how you worship and how much of yourself you offer to God when you worship. There is a correct way and an incorrect way of worshiping. The Bible says, “Because we are thankful, we should worship God in a way that will please him. We should do this with respect and fear” (Hebrews 12:28).
God takes pleasure when our worship is truthful. Very often someone says, "I think God is ..." and later he or she shares their idea of the kind of God they would like to worship. But, we cannot arbitrarily create our own suitable or inoffensive image of God and adore it. This is idolatry.
Worship has to be based on the truth of the scriptures, not in our own opinions of God. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, "The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." To worship in truth means to worship God as He is truly revealed in the Bible.
God takes pleasure when our worship is authentic. When Jesus said that we have to “worship in spirit”, he was not referring to the Holy Spirit but to our own spirit. Made in God's likeness, you are a spirit that resides in a body and God designed our spirit to communicate with Him. Worship is our spirit responding to God's Spirit. When Jesus said, "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul" he wanted us to understand that worship must be genuine and must come from the heart. It is not only a question of saying the correct words; you have to feel what you say. Worship that does not come from the heart is not complete worship! It does not have any value and it is an insult to God.
When we worship, God sees beyond our words and sees the attitude of our hearts. The Bible says, "For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." (I Samuel 16:7). As worship involves taking delight in God, this utilizes your emotions. God gave you your emotions so you could worship Him with deep feelings, but those emotions have to be genuine, not feigned. God hates hypocrisy. He does not want exhibitionism or pretension or simulation in his worship. He wants your sincere and genuine love. We can worship God imperfectly, but we cannot worship Him insincerely. Certainly, sincerity alone is not sufficient; one can be sincerely wrong. That's why spirit and truth are necessary. Worship has to be truthful and authentic. Worship that pleases God is deeply emotional and deeply doctrinal. We use our heart and our head.
Nowadays many people equate being emotionally moved by the music to being moved by the Spirit, but these two things are not the same. Genuine worship occurs when your spirit responds to God, not to some musical sound. In fact, some introspective and sentimental songs are an obstacle to worship because they take the attention away from God and concentrate on our feelings. The biggest distraction in worship is you, your interests and your worries of what others are thinking of you.
Many people differ about the most appropriate or authentic way of expressing worship to God, but these arguments usually only reflect differences of personality and of past experiences. There are many forms of worship that are mentioned in the Bible. The best form of worship is the one that more authentically represents your love for God based on your personal past and the personality that God gave you.
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