Who doesn’t want to live in the will of God for their life? In the fourth chapter of John, Jesus reveals the kind of worshipers whom God is seeking. So how do we worship God in spirit and truth?
The answer to this question ties in with Hebrews 13:16 where the author, after urging believers to offer the sacrifice of praise to God, reminds us to “not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” James wrote that “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27).
Through the prophet Hosea, God said, “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6). Matthew records Jesus’ use of this verse twice when responding to questions from the Pharisees (Matthew 9:13, 12:7). The Pharisees were some of the outwardly most pious men ever to walk the face of the earth. But their righteousness was simply a veneer to cover up their own iniquities. They did all of the right things to be righteous by the standards of the law but, as Paul wrote to the Romans, “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).
Don’t be as the congregation of Jerusalem, of whom God said, “these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts from Me” (Isaiah 29:13). “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him,” (2 Chronicles 16:9). We should be making our very best effort to please Him in everything that we do so that He will show Himself strong on our behalf!
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