Morning By Morning #328

…fellowship with him…

1 John 1:6

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

When we were united with Christ by faith, we were brought into such complete fellowship with Him that we were made one with Him, and His interests and ours became mutual and identical. We have fellowship with Christ in His love. What He loves, we love. He loves the saints—so do we; He loves sinners—so do we. He loves the poor perishing race of mankind and yearns to see earth’s “wastelands” transformed into “the garden of the LORD” (Isa. 51:3)—so do we.

We also have fellowship with Him in His desires. He desires the glory of God—we work for the same purpose. He desires for the saints to be with Him where He is—we long to be there as well. He desires to drive sin away—we fight under His banner with the same goal. He desires His Father’s name to be loved and adored by all His creatures—we pray daily, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).

We have fellowship with Christ in His sufferings as well. We are not nailed to the cross, nor do we die a cruel death, but when He suffers reproach, so do we. Yet what a blessed thing it is to be accused for His sake, to be despised for following the Master, and to have the world against us. “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matt. 10:24).

We also fellowship with Him in His work, ministering to others through “the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15) and by deeds of love. “[Our] food,” like His, “is to do the will of him who sent [Him] and to finish his work” (John 4:34).

Finally, we have fellowship with Christ in His joy. We are happy in His happiness and rejoice in His exaltation. Dear believer, have you ever tasted His joy? There can be nothing more refreshing or thrilling this side of heaven than having Christ’s joy fulfilled in us—“to make our joy complete” (1 John 1:4).

His glory awaits us and will ultimately complete our fellowship, for His church will sit with Him upon His throne as His well-beloved bride and queen.

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

What an amazing thing, that the Lord and Creator of the entire universe desires to fellowship with us! David, in amazement of this truth, proclaimed, “O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow” (Ps. 144:3 – 4). In the following psalm David reiterates this truth, all the while praising his creator:

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8:1 – 9