Dear SCC & Friends,
…called to fellowship… ~1 Corinthians 1:9
Reflection #179
When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy. ~Corrie ten Boom~ Our faith is both singular and corporate. We need each other and the Lord reveals Himself in fellowship through His amazing grace and abiding love. …being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. ~Phil. 2:2 The Greek word for fellowship is “koinonia”… loosely translated it means in common or together. Fellowship is far more than potluck dinners and social interactions. Koinonia speaks of vulnerability, intimacy and the sharing of our lives in Christ. Fellowship is revealed as a byproduct of walking authentically before God and one another. It doesn’t matter if we are introverts or extroverts …if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another… ~1 Jn. 1:7… Our love to God is measured by our everyday fellowship with others and the love it displays. ~Andrew Murray~
No one comes into spiritual maturity on their own… We go to heaven alone, but we are not alone in heaven. The early church remains our pattern… And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ~Acts 2:42 Dietrich Bonhoeffer understood the tension between solitude and fellowship… Inherent is both blessing and danger… Let him who cannot be alone beware of community… Let him who is not in community beware of being alone… Each by itself has profound perils and pitfalls. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation and despair. ~ Life Together~ God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. ~1 Cor. 1:9 It is a call not to take lightly… Keep up the good work!
Together in Christ,
Kevin