Fellowship part 5
It gets tricky when we try to separate things. When we draw lines in the sand. When we put "us" on one side and "them" on the other. Listen: nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. So we ought to stop separating things and just realize, understand, and accept that we are all in this together. I say this at work all the time, "We're all on the same team, right?" Unfortunately, not everybody feels that way. At work or in life in general. So we separate. We try to get in where we fit in, while making sure people who DON'T fit in got to go. It's unfortunate. It makes things harder. Makes things worse. What we need to really run with is what Jesus was saying in John 14:20, "At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." There IS no separation. We are all One. Which brings me to my memory verse for tonight. "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3). Our fellowship with each other flows from our fellowship with God. Because God is love. And our fellowship with each other is--has to be--based in love. There is no other foundation that can be built on, other than love. Love is the glue that binds us and keeps us together. Love transcends all of those differences that we use in order to separate. I've heard it said that boys look for reasons to be friends, but girls look for reasons to be enemies. Like, boys look for things in common but girls look for things that are different. I don't know if this is necessarily true. Certainly not all of the time. But I think if you WANT to be friends with someone you need to major on the majors and minor on the minors. You don't have to agree on everything. Or, really, on anything. You can let people be who they are, and you can be who you are, and you can still love each other. You can still fellowship. Because love isn't about getting. It's not about getting your own way. It's not about getting someone to agree with you. Love is giving. Giving what you've got. Giving who you are. Giving grace, and mercy, and forgiveness. Just as God has given those things to you. Receiving and releasing His love. We love because He first loved us. He filled us up and now we fill ourselves to overflowing with what He has already filled us with. The New Commandment is to love one another as Jesus loved us. So He first has to love us. He has to give us what we need if He expects us to give it away. And He has. He gave His life for us on the cross... but He also gave His life TO us. So that we could have it. So that we could experience it as He lives His own life of love in us, and through us, and as us. Your relationship with people flows from your relationship with God. That's what I'm trying to say. Our fellowship with each other is the fellowship of the Spirit. The fellowship of love. Where else could that come from but the God who IS love? So focusing on God means focusing on people. Whatsoever you do to the least of them you do unto the King. Jesus is in the Father. And He is in us. And we are in Him. There is no separation, and no need for separation. We are all in this together. And things work out better when we work together!