Let's get our 'WE' out of the way

But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly [humble] themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.” (John 4:24)

Who you are - a believer in Christ, as evidenced by the way you live - that is what matters - not the church affiliation you proclaim. It is clearly a matter of who we worship, not where we worship. Do we worship the Christ, the living Son of God? Do we serve him with our full devotion? If the answer is yes, then we are on the right path! It is a measure of how 'engaged' your spirit is in the pursuit of truth - not that you have the 'only truth', 'better truth', or the 'secret truth'. 

If we are followers of Christ, our lives are to be marked with simple and honest humility in worship. That means we live transparently before our God - in humility acknowledging our short-falls and then paying close attention to the help he grants to help us with those short-falls. How do we worship God? Can we do it in our own strength? No clearly, we cannot, for 'WE' gets in the way of worship. We need the Holy Spirit to show us how to worship - to bring our hearts and minds into submission so we can truly lay our lives open before Christ.

We go wrong when we think we can just enter into worship kind of 'blindly' - stumbling along in our own efforts. We turn that wrong pursuit around when we open ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Who we are will not be who we are tomorrow when we allow our teacher, the Holy Spirit, to guide us into true and open times of worship. Why? We will be led to the foot of the altar and it is there we will be changed. The way we live is transformed by how we worship - do you see that in this passage? 

Rather than settle for superficial worship - the kind where we say the words, but the heart isn't really behind them - let's begin to 'worship' as God intends. Let his Holy Spirit guide our withered and worn souls into the throne room of God. It is there we can find rest and peace for the weariness of our day. It is there we find the health and hope our spirit so craves. It is there we are renewed and restored. How is this possible? Because we bring what we are, complete with all our short-falls, chips, and dings, and allow the Holy Spirit to lay us bare. It may not be comfortable to worship this way, but when WE get out of the way, God is free to touch us exactly where we need his touch. Just sayin!