Daily Bible Reading: 1 Chronicles 27, Ezekiel 38, John 4When I first got saved I had a lot of zeal. God had done a great work in my life and I was excited and eager to share it with my college campus. I was hungry for more of God and found myself involved in some nightly revival meetings at a nearby church. At first it wasn’t bad, but after a few times of going it started getting a little...strange. People were barking like dogs, convulsing and making me feel like I wasn’t quite spiritual enough because I hadn’t been taken up to heaven in visions.
Before I was saved, I had been to churches that left me bored and unchanged. They read scriptures but failed to deliver a practical application of those scriptures to help me apply them to my life. We sang hymns, but half of what I was singing I didn’t understand. There were a lot of rules and "don’ts" explained but not a lot of "do’s" to help me live with purpose.
Thankfully I had some Godly people in my life who could direct me to a church that had a wonderful balance of worshiping in spirit and in truth. Jesus talks about this balance when he meets the Samaritan woman in John 4: 4-26
"Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
We can’t have one or the other in our lives, it must be both. If we have spirit only, we live a Christian life that looks a lot like a yo-yo diet. It is feelings-based only and when hard times come and we don’t "feel" God, we can easily turn to something else that makes us "feel" good. Our faith cannot be based on experiences only, because whether we intend to or not, our relationship with God becomes less about Him and more about getting our next experience.
Yet we cannot veer to the side of truth only either. We then begin to become about rules, legalism and religion rather than relationship. This can lead to a life that is puffed up with knowledge but lacking a humble communion with God.
You may be going through a season where you don’t "feel" God, but could it be a time where your faith is being tested to make sure you have both spirit AND truth. When God seems distant, it helps to study the scriptures and know that "He will never leave us or forsake us." It adds another level of depth to your relationship with God when you are grounded in the word and in truth. It adds an element that is vital to your foundation, leaving you unshakable by the enemy, false doctrines and the storms of life.
On the other hand you may be going through a season where all that head knowledge is getting in the way of having a heartfelt communion with God. What a great opportunity to strive for humility and experience God. Many intellectuals have a hard time letting go of the "I’ll believe it when I see it" mentality, but as Christians we are called to walk by faith and not by sight. Worshiping in spirit is also vital to our relationship with God, without it we can become like the prideful pharisees who were convinced they knew God because of their knowledge of the scriptures.
What about you today? Are the scales tipped in one direction or are you worshiping in spirit and truth?
Thanks for reading and responding,
Melissa Miller
Tomorrow’s reading: 2 Chronicles 1-2, Ezekiel 39, John 5
1 comment:
SO good and so true. As a church planter I have found that these scales in my life get tipped so easily and quickly. I go from, "we need to pray more" to "we need to do more in the community" all the time. The truth is we need to be both and just be consistent.
Post a Comment