Good News: God Is Spirit
A devotional thought from Kendell Easley for “Our Great God”
I’ve visited some of the world’s greatest idol temples. On a recent trip to Indonesia, I climbed Borobudur, a fabulous Buddhist shrine with hundreds of statues of the Buddha. Not far away was Prambanan, a Hindu temple complex filled with terrible idol statues of elephant gods and other deities.
Despite their architectural splendor, both places gave me the creeps. It was hard to look at physical representations of what were not gods at all. It helped when I recalled that the true God is spirit. He can never be encapsulated in a carving of wood or stone or a metal image of gold or silver.
On that same trip, I worshiped and preached (through a translator) in several Indonesian churches. I couldn’t understand the words, though some of the hymn tunes were familiar. The church buildings were very humble. But God was there. Because God is spirit, when Jesus is worshiped, God is present, whether in an American mega church, a contemporary urban church meeting in a storefront, or a humble Indonesian gathering. There’s no question that the warm, welcoming Indonesian believers I met worshiped “in spirit and in truth” in the same way that we do.
God is spirit; thus, He is present to bless the gospel wherever it is proclaimed around the globe and to the end of the age. He is present to bless you and me, both when we gather for corporate worship and when we scatter as the hands and feet of Jesus to a world that knows little about Him.
Pause and Reflect
• Reflect on how you conceive of the idea that God has given you a spirit so that you can worship Him.
• “God’s spirituality guarantees His presence to believers everywhere.” Explain how this is good news.
• Stop and pray that as you gather in corporate worship this week, you will worship in spirit and in truth.
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