True Worshipers

Welcome. It's time for encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Today's reading titled True Worshipers was written by John Blaise. She finally had the chance to visit the church. Inside, in the deepest part of the basement, she reached the small cave or grotto.

Candles filled the narrow space and hanging lamps illuminated a corner of the floor. There it was, a 14 pointed silver star covering a raised bit of the marble floor. She was in Bethlehem's grotto of the Nativity, the place marking the spot where, according to tradition, Christ was born. Yet the writer Annie Dillard felt less than impressed, realizing God was much bigger than that spot. Still, such places have always held great significance in our faith stories. Another such place is mentioned in the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well in John chapter 4, the mountain where her ancestors worshipped, referring to Mount Gerizim.

It was sacred to the Samaritans, who contrasted it to the Jewish insistence that Jerusalem was where true worship occurred. However, Jesus declared the time had arrived when worship was no longer specific to a place, but a person. The true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

The woman declared her faith in the Messiah, but she didn't realize she was talking to him. Then Jesus declared, I, the one speaking to you, I am he. God isn't limited to any mountain or physical space.

He's present with us everywhere. The true pilgrimage we make each day is to approach his throne as we boldly say, our Father, and he is there. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from John chapter 4, verses 19 through 26. 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 worshippers will worship the Father in the spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.

God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the spirit and in truth. The woman said, I know that Messiah, called Christ, is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.

Then Jesus declared, I, the one speaking to you, I am he. Now let's pray. Thank you, Father, that you are a loving God, and we thank you that you are always present and that we don't have to go to a specific place to be near you or to worship you. May our hearts be continuously filled with your praises as we live in constant connection with you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening. I'm Wes Ward, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.