Blessed by fellowship

Our weekend was good, even special. On Friday we usually meet with another couple to pray for our families, but they called to say a mutual friend just had surgery. Would we rather go see him? We were very close with him and his wife but with all our moving, haven’t seen them for at least twenty years. That was a blessed visit.

Saturday our church hosted a silent auction to raise funds for persecuted refugees. The event was a total success, but the part I enjoyed most was conversation with Christian friends. We have attended this church for only six years but feel as if we have known the people forever. They remind us continually of the grace of God.

Yesterday we visited an octogenarian who broke her hip. She was cheerful and even more so when one of her peers came also. Again, this was ‘family’ and we were blessed by their good humor and shining faces. After that, we revisited the fellow who’d had surgery and one of his sons was there with his family. Except for a few gray hairs, it was as if nothing changed — we again felt as if we have known them forever.

Tozer writes in today’s devotional: “This is the Bible pattern. God the Father is there. Christ the Son is present. The Holy Spirit indwells each member . . .  The spirit within us can experience and taste the glories of God in a blessed fellowship.”

This explains why fellowship puts in our hearts a deep sense of being forever friends. It is about the kinship of the godhead, the amazing fellowship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit that we are experiencing and enjoying. In this relationship there is no rift — unless our fleshy and sinful selves put it there. What a joy to be with our Christian family.

Maybe this is part of the reason Paul wrote these words to the church at Galatia:

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:9–10)

The Christians at Galatia were in trouble because they had abandoned their focus on the Gospel and were sliding into a “I have to earn my salvation” mentality. Instead of encouraging reliance on grace and loving one another, they were listening to false teachers who told them they ‘must do this or that’ to be saved. That thinking took them out of fellowship with God and with each other.

We are pilgrims here together. Our Lord God is with us in our journey and we are with each other. My relationship with God is precious, yet so is my relationship with others who believe in Him. It is through them that I see the grace of God described by the Word of God. Their loving care, laughter, and that sense of being forever friends are God-things and tremendously vital to my spiritual health.

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Lord Jesus, I’m so thankful today to be in Your Body of believers in this place. Each smile, each Word of encouragement, each burst of laughter, each hug and each prayer draw us together and point us to You. I’m so grateful for the church and that You unite us as You have done. We sometimes have our differences, but they melt away when our hearts are focused on You and Your great love for us.