DRAWING NEAR

July 30

Enjoying Fellowship with Christ

"Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do
not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with
joy inexpressible and full of glory" (1 Pet. 1:8).

Fellowship with Christ is built on love, trust, and obedience.

The recipients of 1 Peter, like us, had never seen Christ but they
enjoyed fellowship with Him just the same. And their fellowship was
genuine because it was marked by love, trust, and obedience.

The love Peter speaks of in 1 Peter 1:8 isn't shallow emotionalism or
sentimentality. It's the love of the will-- the love of choice. His
readers had chosen to love Christ despite never having seen Him
physically. Such love is marked by obedience, as Jesus affirms in
John 14: "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. . . . He who
does not love Me does not keep My words" (vv. 15, 24). To have
fellowship with Christ is to love and obey Him.

Another element of fellowship is trust. After hearing reports about
Christ's resurrection, the disciple Thomas declared that he would
trust Jesus only after seeing and touching Him. Jesus honored his
wishes, saying, "Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach
here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but
believing" (John 20:27). But then Jesus said, "Because you have seen
Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet
believed" (v. 29). We as Christians are among those who believe in
Christ, not having seen Him.

The result of loving and trusting Christ is "joy inexpressible and
full of glory" (1 Pet. 1:8). This joy is something beyond the ability
of speech and thought to convey. That's obvious even on the human
level--as evidenced by the thousands of songs that have attempted to
communicate the joy of being in love. "Full of glory" refers to the
divine element in Christian joy. It's a supernatural endowment
bestowed and energized by the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22).

Enjoying fellowship with Christ is one of the supreme privileges of
your Christian life. Strengthen and enrich that fellowship by
learning the Word and relying on the Spirit. As you do, you will
learn to love and trust Christ more deeply.

Suggestions for Prayer:

Ask God to teach you how to love and trust Him more faithfully. Thank
Him for the joy that comes as you do.

For Further Study:

Memorize Matthew 22:37.

Drawing Near, Copyright 1993 John F. MacArthur, Jr.


All rights reserved. Used by permission.
http://www.gty.org

~~~

Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control.

Matthew 22:37
37 Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'

~~~

These devotions are posted with permission from John MacArthur's
first (1993) devotional work, _Drawing Near_, and they are also sent
out daily for free to several folks via e-mail.

In addition, John's second (1997) devotional, _Strength for Today_,
is also available free via e-mail only. _Strength for Today_ follows
the same format as what you have seen here from _Drawing Near_, but
with different monthly themes.

If you would like to receive daily devotions via e-mail from either
of these series, just let me know (via e-mail), and I will gladly add
you to the list(s) of your choice.

You can hear John MacArthur daily via the Internet by visiting:

http://www2.oneplace.com/Ministries/Grace_to_You/

and

http://www.gty.org.uk/

You may email John MacArthur in care of Grace to You at:
letters@gty.org



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In Christ,



Peter

Peter G. Chase :: Columbus, Ohio, USA
pchase1@wideopenwest.com

STOP! Who do you think Jesus is?
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To forgive is to set a prisoner free, and to discover that the prisoner
was you. -Alistair Begg