Fellowship is such an important part of being a Christian. We need fellowship- we need those fellow Christians that we can rely on, and who can rely on us. One of the way that fellow Christians can be described is as a "friend of Jesus." It's very true- we all are friends of Jesus aren't we? And it makes it even easier to get to know someone- or meet someone from another country or culture. If you both love Jesus- you immediately have something in common.
Sometimes I wonder though if being friends with friends of Jesus can get in the way of being friends with Jesus? We can spend so much time with our friends and in the spirit of fellowship, that we forget that Jesus wants some of our time too. He wants us to have one-on-one time with him- he's our friend too. And in order to be friends with someone, you have to maintain that friendship. The disciples had been true friends with Jesus. They were men who "had been with Jesus." That has more than one meaning. Yes, they had spent time with him while he was here on earth- and they were his closest friends. But they had also experienced Jesus. They had spent time with him one-on-one- personally. That's what Jesus wants from us. He wants us to spend one-on-one time with him so that we can get to know him better. I think he does not want us to enjoy fellowship more than friendship with him.
Just something to keep in mind. Fellowship is important and it is a wonderful thing to have, but we need to make sure we're keeping our eye on the reason for the fellowship. To be friends with Jesus, to give him a portion of our time. As with the disciples years ago, we want the world to be in awe that we've "been with Jesus" and then want that for themselves. I love to be with people, with Christian friends, but I need to be careful to not love that more than being with Christ.
1 comment:
Love the new look. I think we must remember that in order to effectively fellowship (who knew that fellowship needed to be "effective"?!), we MUST spend time with Jesus, be friends with Him. Sometimes, that's the benefit of the fellowship, though. Someone (who maybe HAS been spending time with Jesus) recognizes that we haven't, or vice versa. I think maybe that's one reason God gave us Christian fellowship...for accountability.
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