Can You Worship Here or There?
by Charlie Hamilton
During the first century (33 A.D.) there was a religious group called the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the dream killers of their day. This self appointed sect was very quick to point out to everyone that they were the way to God. The Pharisees believed they had the monopoly on worship. They created an elaborate system of dependence upon themselves which only they could fulfill. According to them they had the perfect place to worship and the perfect way to get to God. In order to worship God – all people would need to go through them.
When Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” the Pharisees violently rejected Him because Jesus was a threat to their man-made religious system.
After all who would follow them anymore if people started to simply follow Jesus?
In speaking to the woman at Jacob’s well Jesus said,
John 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
John 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
In this passage the narrative is on “the place” of worship. The woman noted that her ancestors had worshiped God from a nearby mountain. However, the Pharisees insisted that God be worshipped from Jerusalem – in the temple. Jesus corrected those two viewpoints by teaching the woman that “the place” to worship God from was not in a mountain, nor in a building in Jerusalem – but from a place in the spirit within the heart of every person. This is “the place” where real worship begins – the place where your physical body is located on a GPS map is totally irrelevant.
Can you worship God when you are physically on a mountain? Yes.
Can you worship God when you are physically inside a building? Sure.
But keep in mind that worship begins in the heart of every person regardless of where you are physically.
If Dr. Seuss wrote a poem on worship, it might go something like this…
Can You Worship Here or There?
Can you worship on a bus?
Can you worship in a rush?
Can you worship on a train?
Can you worship on a plane?
You can worship in a house.
You can worship near a mouse.
You can worship here or there.
Yes, you can worship anywhere;
Anywhere your spirit’s there.
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