Have you ever felt like you were “doing worship” wrong?
Maybe you were in a church service, a retreat, or even a worship concert where you saw people raising their hands, and they just seemed like they were having such an encounter with God. But you were standing there going, “Hey, it’s all I can do to clap on time.”
Or maybe it was the opposite: you were the one having this encounter, but you looked around and felt like everybody else was just kind of staring at a screen. You wondered, Am I doing something wrong?
Maybe you have even been in a spot where you thought, “I’m here, but I’m too tired or preoccupied to really give myself over to this.”
I think at some point in all of our faith journeys, we have had moments where, for whatever reason, we felt like maybe we were doing worship wrong—or maybe we were not in a place to worship well.
So, when those moments happen, how would Jesus want us to respond?
Worship in Spirit and Truth
In John 4:24, Jesus says, “For God is Spirit, and so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
This comes from John 4, the famous encounter where Jesus is talking to the woman at the well. For a lot of reasons, she was ostracized from both her community and from the Jewish community at large: she was a Samaritan—one of the Jews who had married and had kids with non-Jews—and she had been divorced five times and was currently living with someone who was not her husband.
So the fact that Jesus, a Jewish man, was even talking to her at that time was unheard of—and even scandalous.
At this point, the woman is feeling uncomfortable: Okay, this guy is more than just a guy. They start talking about where people are supposed to worship. Is it on this mountain, or in Jerusalem?
Jesus says, “No, it’s not about that anymore.” God is Spirit, and we worship Him in spirit and in truth.
It’s About a Posture
What Jesus is saying here is that worship is not about a place; it is about a posture. It is not about where you worship, but how you worship.
And when I say how you worship, I do not mean the mechanics of it—whether you are someone who raises their hands, closes their eyes, claps, or any of that. Rather, it is about your heart: what you are bringing to God in that moment of worship.
Worship in Everyday Moments
Maybe you have times of worship in a church service, in your home, during your commute, or even as you go about your day. Worship is not about how well you sing, or even limited to singing at all. It is about praising God for who He is and what He has done. And we are not limited to simply music to do that.
We can worship God while doing the dishes by praising Him silently in our minds—or even out loud—for giving us dishes and the food that was on those dishes.
We can worship as we go about our work here at K-LOVE and Air1, or in our homes and communities: “God, thank You for this job. I’m giving everything I’ve got to this.”
Give What You Have
Maybe you are in a place where you are thinking, “Well, yeah, okay, I can do that, but I really do not have much to give. I’m tired. I’m overwhelmed. I’m preoccupied.”
I think what Jesus would say to that is: Give what you have, and I will meet you there.
