Day 6: God is Spirit, Not Like Us

Scripture
“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24 ESV

“To whom then will you compare God, or what likeness compare with him?” Isaiah 40:18 ESV

Confessional Summary
The Reformed confessions press this into our bones. God is not physical. He is “a most pure spirit, invisible,” and therefore not contained, not composed of parts, and not reduced to anything our hands can make or our minds can manage (Westminster Confession of Faith 2.1; Westminster Larger Catechism 7). The same confession adds a needed safeguard when it says God is “without body, parts, or passions,” protecting us from imagining Him as a larger version of ourselves (Westminster Confession of Faith 2.1).
 
The Larger Catechism applies this directly to worship by warning us against making any image of God or worshiping Him by images, because God must be honored as He is, not as we can depict Him (Westminster Larger Catechism 109). The Second Helvetic Confession emphasizes the same point by rejecting images and human inventions as a way of approaching the living God (Second Helvetic Confession chapter 4).

The Reformers insisted that worship must be governed by what God is, not by what we can see, stage, or control. If God is Spirit, then the church must refuse every attempt to domesticate Him through images, props, or techniques, and instead draw near by faith in the Word He has spoken.

Reflection
We constantly try to shrink God into something familiar. We picture Him as a larger version of ourselves, reactive, needy, dependent on the right conditions, disappointed when the moment does not move us. Scripture refuses that. God is spirit. He is not a creature inside the world. He is the Creator over it. He cannot be captured by an image, contained by a place, or controlled by a technique.

Jesus joins two words we often split apart, spirit and truth. Some people want spirituality that floats free of truth. Others want truth that becomes cold and prayerless. Christ refuses both. Worship must be inward and real, offered from the heart by faith, and it must be governed by what God has actually revealed.

This exposes two common temptations in worship. One is worship by aesthetics, as if beauty or excellence could substitute for reverence and obedience. The other is worship by emotion, as if intensity were the same as sincerity. God is not honored by manufactured feelings. God is honored when His people respond to His self-revelation with faith, humility, and truth.

Application
Refuse casual mental pictures that shrink God into a creature. Let Scripture, not imagination, shape how you think of Him. Prepare for worship by letting God’s Word set the tone, not your feelings. In prayer, speak to God as truly present even when you feel dull, distracted, or numb.

Prayer
God who is Spirit, forgive me for shaping You into something familiar and controllable. Teach me to worship You in spirit and in truth. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.