Jesus said, “Our Father desires worshippers who worship in
spirit and truth.”  

That is what we are called to be, as Christians:
people who offer spiritual sacrifices in practical, physical ways.
That is why Paul tells us to give thanks in every circumstance, to
choose to rejoice always, to pray as often as we breathe.  But these
things only happen in a true worshipper’s heart.  And true worship
happens when we, like Isaiah, see our Father, seated on the throne as
King of the universe.  Sometimes our worship seems small or futile,
and sometimes foolish.  True, the music and paintings and dances of
our worship will pass away, as will people’s fame and possessions and
opinions, and every created thing.  But should a singer stop singing
because the song will someday be silenced?  No, we continue to sing in
faith. Why?  Because our Father desires us to do so.  Let us become
worshippers in spirit and truth!

敬拜
耶稣说”父要人用心灵和诚实来敬拜他。”作为基督徒，这就是我们需要做的：用实际的行动献上属灵的祭。这就是为什么保罗要让我们凡事感谢、常常喜乐、不住祷告。但只有真实敬拜的人才能做到这些。只有当我们像以赛亚一样，看见宝座上掌管宇宙的天父时，才能有真实的敬拜。或许有时候我们的敬拜看起来是微不足道、毫无效果，有时看起来又有些可笑。确实，敬拜的音乐、绘画或舞蹈都将会过去，正如人的声誉、财产、思想，和一切所造之物都将会过去一样。这样看来，因为歌曲终有一天会停止，一个歌手就应该停止歌唱吗？不！我们需要继续凭着信心来唱诗。为什么？因为我们的天父要我们这样做。让我们成为用心灵和诚实敬拜的人吧！

…what do you already have in mind?  what do you accept is commonplace, for granted, impossible to be otherwise?  Jesus said, “Do not work for the food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you…”

Yet you come to me today like the crowd, trusting him in measures that boil down to satisfying our monetary concerns.  I know the amounts of cash that flow in and out, just as I know the count of your headhairs.

[But what I thought would be is not.  Please give the food that endures. Please give eternal life fruits for my soul is weak, and feeling pangs of hunger.  Give me faith to realize that you will bless what I give, the small loaves, the few fish.  This is not like Cain's offering, fruit of a cursed ground.  This is, I hope, the bread and fish of a poor boy.  They are meager and lacking much.  My assets, my talents--to be placed in your hands.]

I will bless them; giving thanks for them, I will break them, and I will multiply them.

When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, 

he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose,

for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. 

…And a great many people were added to the Lord.’ 

Acts 11.23-24

Even before this, in verse 22, the report came to the ears of the church.  It was on hearing a report of good news, that they sought to see.  At this point they could have gone with critical eyes and a faithless heart, but it was not so with Barnabas.  

Barnabas saw with good eyes, lived from a heart of faith, and his mouth was a fountain of fresh water. 

There is a connection here of 1. beholding, 2. believing, and 3. blessing / proclaiming. If our eyes are good then the whole being is filled with light, and out of the abundance of the center-most heart the mouth speaks. But it is the Holy Spirit working in us to weave this organic system into a whole: the eyes-mouth relationship via the heart; the words of life and truth bearing the fruits of faith and gladness in other lives because of its perfect operation.

“O my soul, listen to the task that the Lord has given you, and run in
faith.  You have no righteousness of your own, and never had.  When I
died for you, you were still a rebel, an outworked copy of a corrupted
pattern, already dead and fruitless.  But what I have begun in you I
will complete, even taking you back around to the same place you have
been before–yet a floor higher.  Trust in me, for this is not a
pattern of righteousness you can earn.  It is not a position or
lifestyle or walk that you can obtain.  But if you seek me, and keep
my words, I will indeed do the very thing; making your righteousness
shine forth like the dawn;  bringing salvation and healing through
your faith, by my word; teaching you to live and die in faith–and
award you a crown of life, and place your feet on the heights.  The
mountains and hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all
the trees of the field shall clap their hands, and in the joy and
fruitfulness of the field, it shall make a name for the Lord–an
everlasting sign.”

[How can I return to you, Lord, and what thoughts of mine are
fruitless, needing forsaking?]

“What thoughts of yours are worries?  What thoughts of yours are small
religious imitations of righteousness?  These are dust which you hold
to, but my thoughts are above yours, and my ways higher than yours.
Do not spend your money on what is not true bread.  Do not labor for
that which does not satisfy.  Listen to me, incline your ear to me;
hear, and eat, and live.  My steadfast love, my sure love for David,
is the covenant I extend to you.  Isaiah 55…”