And _in truth_. That does not only mean, _in sincerity_. Nor does
it only signify, in accordance with the truth of God's Word. The
expression is one of deep and Divine meaning. Jesus is 'the
only-begotten of the Father, _full of_ grace and _truth_.' 'The
law was given by Moses; grace and _truth came_ by Jesus Christ.'
Jesus says, '_I am the truth_ and the life.' In the Old
Testament all was shadow and promise; Jesus brought and gives the
reality, _the substance_, of things hoped for. In Him the
blessings and powers of the eternal life are our actual
possession and experience. Jesus is full of grace and truth; the
Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth; through Him the grace that is
in Jesus is ours indeed, and truth a positive communication out
of the Divine life. And so worship in spirit is worship _in
truth_; actual living fellowship with God, a real correspondence
and harmony between the Father, who is a Spirit, and the child
praying in the spirit.
What Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, she could not at once
understand. Pentecost was needed to reveal its full meaning. We
are hardly prepared at our first entrance into the school of
prayer to grasp such teaching. We shall understand it better
later on. Let us only begin and take the lesson as He gives it.
We are carnal and cannot bring God the worship He seeks. But
Jesus came to give the Spirit: He has given Him to us. Let the
disposition in which we set ourselves to pray be what Christ's
words have taught us. Let there be the deep confession of our
inability to bring God the worship that is pleasing to Him; the
childlike teachableness that waits on Him to instruct us; the
simple faith that yields itself to the breathing of the Spirit.
Above all, let us hold fast the blessed truth--we shall find
that the Lord has more to say to us about it--that the knowledge
of the Fatherhood of God, the revelation of His infinite
Fatherliness in our hearts, the faith in the infinite love that
gives us His Son and His Spirit to make us children, is indeed
the secret of prayer in spirit and truth. This is the new and
living way Christ opened up for us. To have Christ the Son, and
_The Spirit of the Son_, dwelling within us, and revealing the
Father, this makes us true, spiritual worshippers.
'LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY.'
* * * * *
Blessed Lord! I adore the love with which Thou didst teach a
woman, who had refused Thee a cup of water, what the worship of
God must be. I rejoice in the assurance that Thou wilt no less
now instruct Thy disciple, who comes to Thee with a heart that
longs to pray in spirit and in truth. O my Holy Master! do teach
me this blessed secret.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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