24. God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
To worship God in truth is to simply know God’s truth. Since all scripture is inspired by the Spirit of God, the only way to know God’s true character and nature—and to worship Him in truth—we must immerse ourselves in His Word. We understand this instinctively when we want infatuation to grow into love. In a romantic relationship, you get to know a person’s true character by their actions and their words. In the beginning, we hang on their every word to see if their actions match what they say. Over time, this is how we learn who they truly are.
In the same way, we are to meditate on the Word of God. When we hang on every Word God has spoken, we not only come to know God—we also learn how His Word takes action in our lives. Scripture reveals His character and nature—His heart, His will, His desires for His children, His warnings as a protector, His promises out of love. Ultimately, His ways.
Believing God exists and knowing who God is through having a relationship with Him are not the same. Many believers attend church on Sunday, sit through Sunday school, and even participate in Bible study, yet still do not know who God is or walk in a relationship with Him. When you are in a relationship with God, you believe God—you trust His character, you submit to His authority, and you understand your position as His servant. But when you merely believe in God you treat Him like a servant. These are those who eagerly quote Matthew 7:7: “Ask, and it will be given to you,” but ignore Matthew 7:1-2 which warns: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”
From the first few verses of Matthew 7 we see that the partial truth says to “ask and it will be given to you”—but the whole truth shows us that our hearts must be aligned with God’s command to not judge others in order to receive the desires we request of Him. In America, even our courtroom oath testifies to speak “the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.” Because the Holy Spirit leads every child of God into all truth, we know that our God is a God of the whole truth.