Praise the Lord for the new day! And it's a Friday too! I find it interesting that across the great Pacific Ocean, Friday is old news and they are moving onto the weekend already. I wonder if we can move that date line on Thursday at noon and then put it back on Sunday night? Whatever you call the day, we get one dawn and one sunset, and the time in between to do our work. Fooling around with the calendar will not free me of the responsibility to get to work. Ah well, an extra weekend day seemed like a good idea!
This morning we get more to learn:
"God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:24
Jesus has repeated this bit about worshiping in spirit and truth. When that happens, we know that the lesson is important. "God is spirit", according to my Bible notes we should remember in our worship that God is not limited to a place or time. Jesus voluntarily limited himself in his physical body, but God is never limited to a place. We can worship him anywhere and at any time. I have never had a pastor, minister, priest, or one of my brothers and sisters in Christ tell me that I could only worship in the sanctuary. Taking my break at work to worship God would not be refused, except that I don't do that corporate thing anymore.
Oh, now I've gone and made some of you sad and envious. Maybe you can hug your paycheck and feel the love. Didn't work? I can tell you from personal experience that if the paycheck is the only thing keeping you there then you are better off without it. We are to work in our Christian life, but that work might mean a big change as it has for me, two of my sisters, some friends, and millions like us who jest ain't workin' where we was back before this recession thingy. Imagine all of us going to Jesus like this woman did.
"Sir, I don't have a job," we might state what he already knows.
"Worship God in spirit and in truth," Jesus tells us.
Eh? We might wonder when the Lord was going to get around to our physical needs like food, clothing, money, etc. However, Jesus gave us some advice on that in Matthew's gospel.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matt 6:33
We have a tendency to think of the world and our needs first. Jesus reminds us to seek God's kingdom first and that we are to worship in spirit and in truth! I like to look at this as worshiping in genuine faith with the Holy Spirit's help. I didn't make that part up myself; it came from the Bible study notes. We have junk in the way sometimes. Am I at the right place? In the right church? Should I try the early service or the late? I like this pastor better than that one. What if I tried to start my own church? These and many other questions rattle around in our heads when our focus is not on worshiping God. Paul had words for those who had preferences between Paul and Apollos as a preacher. Jesus brought the woman at the well to the important things of worship and away from the issue of location. And before you try starting your own church, ya might want to speak with the Lord about that! I can tell you one little thing.
If you sit in a pew thinking that the pastor's work looks easy, try speaking on one subject for 20 or 30 minutes to a group of people some time. God has blessed us with pastors, priests, and ministers who make their sermons flow easily and look easy to do. I haven't moved beyond reading off my printed page very much in our life group. One thing I learned right quick is that a person can read a page of notes in much less time than you might think. I'm working on just speaking to the group, but I don't always have much to say. It takes a lot of practice and hard experience to become interesting to listen to for even as little as a half hour at a time. (Yes, there are young girls who should learn that.) I wonder how long Jesus spoke at the Sermon on the Mount? Hours? Days? But Jesus is very interesting to read, I can only imagine how he held their interest back in the day!
Have a wonderful weekend in Christ! And feel free to start playing those Christmas tunes!
Bucky
Prayer requests: The volcano in Indonesia has erupted once again, killing many and injuring more. We should keep those folks in our prayers.
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