A man once told me about a memorable experience he had while growing up in church. He had a speaking part in a Sunday morning Mothers’ Day program. While delivering his lines, he became visibly emotional, so much so that tears ran down his cheeks. People bragged on him after church, saying that he obviously cared a great deal about delivering his lines well and honoring the mothers who were in attendance. Actually, the man confessed to me that the emotion that he was expressing was anger. You see, he didn’t actually want to be in the program; he was forced to participate against his will. His heart really wasn’t in it.

Over and over in the Old Testament, God warned his people against merely going through the motions of worship. He wanted them to put their hearts into it.

That’s what he still wants from us today.

“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.”—John 4:23.