Worship in Spirit and in truth

Today we pray that you sense the presence of God in a very real and personal way. May we know his love, acceptance, grace and blessing as we worship him together ‘in Spirit and in truth’ (John 4:24).

These are the words that Jesus used to a woman he encountered at a well in Samaria. The social regulations at that time frowned on the interaction, but Jesus stuck to his mandate to ‘seek and to save that which was lost’ (Matthew 18:11; Luke 19:10). This woman needed a sense of acceptance. She needed forgiveness and she needed to know that she mattered to God. Her conversation with Jesus was so incredibly life-changing that she had to go and tell her community! John’s gospel goes on to report that ‘many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony’ (John 4:39).

Acceptance is powerful and we live in a world that is all too often divided by class, race, religion, lifestyle, politics etc. etc. Jesus came to restore godly order through his own personal sacrifice. It’s an order characterised by love. When we display love we impact and when we receive love we are impacted. Today let us decide to love more, encourage more, bless more and reach out more; not just to those who we are close to, but also to those who we may not naturally find in our own territory.