John 4: God is a Spirit

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” -John 4:23 NIV

What does it mean to worship in truth?    Webster defines truth as the following:

1 a archaic :  fidelity, constancy

   b :  sincerity in action, character, and utterance

2 a (1) :  the state of being the case :  fact 

      (2) :  the body of real things, events, and facts :  actuality

      (3) often capitalized :  a transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality

   b :  a judgment, proposition, or idea that is true or accepted as true <truths of thermodynamics>

 

So there you have it.  The archaic meaning is fidelity or constancy.  That is no longer considered relevant even though it is what God wants from us, even what he demands.  It is his desire that we remain true to him; that we remain constant.  That is how he wants us to worship him, with hearts that continually put him foremost.

 

He's not concerned with the meter or the notes.  He's not concerned with the fidelity of the instruments or voices.  He's looking for the fidelity of our hearts.  He's looking for, as Webster puts it, sincerity in action, character and utterance.  I need to remember this, when I'm concentrating on the right note or the right harmony rather than the truthfulness of the words I am singing.