# Be Ready - Sunday, 2025.12.28 ## What does "worship in spirit and truth" mean? ### Part 2 - Worship in Truth The Magi traveled from the east to Jerusalem seeking Jesus saying they came to worship Him. {Matthew 2.2 (BSB)} Herod lied saying he wanted to worship Jesus, but was plotting to kill Him. {Matthew 2.8 (BSB)} When the Magi arrived at the house in Bethlehem where Jesus and His parents were staying, they fell down and worshiped Him. {Matthew 2.11 (BSB)} About 30 years later, Jesus said to the woman at the well: "Believe Me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” {John 4.21-24 (BSB)} --- What did Jesus mean when He told the woman at the well, "God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth?” Yesterday's post looked at the spirit side of this statement. Today's will look at the truth side. --- Pilate is infamously quoted as saying, "What is 'truth?'" at Jesus' "trial." His role in Jesus' crucifixion notwithstanding, I think his question was a good one that is especially relevant today! Nowadays, everyone seems to have their own truth. My truth is different than your truth and both of our truths are different than the real truth, the Bible. To attempt to answer Pilate's question in a short (~500 word ) daily post is not possible. {John 18.38} So, what does it mean to worship in truth? Yesterday, I made the statement that NT worship is focused on the "position" of our hearts, i.e. humble instead of prideful. What does this look like and how does it relate to truth? Let's start with some negative examples: - Killing the object of your worship out of jealousy as Herod planned is NOT worship nor truthful. - In today's narcissistic, me-focused world when we think that we deserve anything other than eternal hell, we are lying to ourselves and to God. This is obviously not worship - Similarly, even thinking that I need to change and be a better person BEFORE accepting Jesus as savior is prideful and anti-worship! On the other hand, here are some positive examples of worship in truth: - Living my life 24/7 in a way so there is congruence between my private life and my public life. This honors and God and is worshipful. {Psalm 15} - Talking with God about everything; not only the "big" things, but also the very small stuff like "what color socks should I wear?" - Approaching death with the attitude that I DON'T deserve anything good and the only way I could be allowed to spend eternity in heaven is through Jesus' blood. --- I am open to correction! Please contact me f you want to suggest changes to this post