“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.”
John 4:23-24 New International Version (NIV)
True worship requires submission to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. There are many who profess Jesus Christ as Lord but true belief exists in hearts examined by God. He has literally placed His Spirit in the hearts of those who believe and just as most people know where they put something and look for it there, God looks for His Spirit where He puts it. True worship is not something we can act out on our volition. God seeks those who worship Him through the indwelling of His Spirit and those who worship Him in truth.
There will be a day when every knee shall bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Some will bow down in awe, amazed as all the prophesies we believe and look forward to have finally come to pass. Some will bow in fear and regret for they did not believe the truth: They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25). But EVERYONE will bow.
As we follow Christ in true worship, we must realize that He knows His sheep. People look on the outside of us and attempt to determine the authenticity of our belief in God. That's as much as one human being can see into another. Our Creator looks inside of us for His Spirit He has placed in the hearts of those who truly believe. God is not seeking our perfection for only He is perfect. He is seeking our worship of Him—our reliance on His perfection. He made us in His image and He is working diligently to perfect all that He has made as we submit ourselves to His will. He loves us and desires our true love for Him. We can't fool Him with insincere acts of pious behavior while harboring hardened hearts. So don't bother trying. God wants our hearts clean and full of love for Him and each other. As we worship God through Jesus Christ, who gave His life in exchange for our sin, He will truly clean us up, inside out.
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:18 NIV
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