Fellowship

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, Ephesians 2:19

Nathaniel Hawthorne said, ‘No man, for any period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which is the true one.’ We like to wear masks in public, yet, only as we open up to one another can we truly change and grow. ‘…If we live in the light…we can share fellowship with each other…’ (1 John 1:7). One author writes: ‘The world mistakenly thinks that intimacy occurs in the dark, but God says it happens in the light. Darkness hides our issues, but, when we are able to bring them out into the light, they lose their power, we find forgiveness, our wounded areas are healed and we begin to make progress.’ We’re afraid of transparency, yet it’s the only way to become spiritually and emotionally whole. None of us is as strong individually as all of us are collectively. We’re more consistent in our faith when others walk with us and encourage us. Over and over in the New Testament we’re told to be devoted to one another, submit to one another, forgive one another, bear one another’s burdens, honor one another, accept one another, teach one another, serve one another, encourage one another, pray for one another and love one another. You’re not responsible for everyone in your church, but you are responsible to them. God expects you to do whatever you can to serve them. Paul challenged the believers in Rome, saying, ‘…I want us to help each other…Your faith will help me and my faith will help you’ (Romans 1:12). That’s what it’s all about!

Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me remember that privacy and Christianity do not go together, either the privacy will destroy the Christianity, or the Christianity will destroy the privacy. Thank You for Your Body of Believers, in Jesus’ Name, Amen