Fellowship With One Another

1 John 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

Winter driving offers all the opportunity to drive in less than ideal conditions. My least favorite is driving in a snow storm at night. Following the tail lights of the car in front of me in the desperate hope that they can see the road in front of them is not pleasant.

I’m okay, you’re okay was the popular belief of the culture a few years back. It seemed to rely on the principle of a collection of friends being more or less ‘normal.’ A collection of friends is chosen because they are ‘normal.’ This works until you really consider the standard of measurement being used. Here we are, flawed, imperfect sinners saying that we are okay because we look at other flawed imperfect sinners as our standard for acceptance.  I would offer this is just-plain-nuts. We can fall into the trap of comparing the group, or even the church, we belong to in this same manner. If our standard for comparison is imperfect we achieve imperfect results. I have heard this described in mathematical terms as error carried forward.  What are we to do?  I would offer a suggestion of keeping our eyes on the “true light of the world.”  The 1 John 1:7 passage reminds us that if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. When we examine this we can come to two conclusions. The first conclusion is if we walk in the light of Christ we will have fellowship with Jesus. That is to say we as individuals will have that fellowship in our relationship and our lifestyle. The second conclusion is if we as a body of believers walk in the light of Christ, we as a body of believers will have fellowship with Jesus. How does that shape our activities as a body of believers? Mark 7:21-23 has some strong cautions on how far astray we can go when our standard of acceptable behavior is the human heart. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within, and they defile a person.  The standard for acceptable behavior should not be the person next to us. Rather we should be looking to that bright morning star we know to be Jesus Christ. Achieving perfection is simply beyond our frail human capabilities. But to recognize that and just roll over and go on sinning is wrong. We look at the law because it convicts us. We look at the Gospel and know that we have forgiveness. Knowing the above we try with the help of Christ to do what is right in His eyes and not our own. Having fellowship with He who is in the light guides us to a better life and life eternal. This Advent season, take the time to share fellowship with Jesus and encourage others to do the same.

PRAYER: Almighty God, creator of the universe. We sing praise, honor and glory to You O Lord. In sharing fellowship with Your Son, Jesus Christ we have fellowship with You. Your Son reminds us that unless we know the Son we do not know the Father. We ask dear Lord that You would continue to give us the faith to stay in fellowship with Your Son when the world around us screams to do otherwise. This we ask in the name of the light of the world, Your Son and our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.