1 John 1:3 --- We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
Today was spent in 1 John 1:3 again but this time the focus moved to the end goal of these first three verses, fellowship with God and with other Christians.
Keep in mind fellowship is koinōnia in the Greek and it is, association, community, communion, joint participation, social intercourse, fellowship, intimacy.
John says come have real, association, community, communion, joint participation, filled with social intercourse, fellowship and intimacy, with us....
...and the reason why "with us" is because they have real, association, community, communion, joint participation, filled with social intercourse, fellowship and intimacy with the Father and his Son, Jesus!!
John experienced the real, living, breathing Word of Life, Jesus Christ. It changed him and he now reaches out to tell everyone about his experience and he's boiling over with desire for others to join him, come live life with him. Not because he's an egomaniac but because he wants everyone to KNOW his Jesus, to know his Father in heaven. He wants them to have the same fellowship with God that he has!
This brought me over to John's Gospel in John 1:35-50. He tells of Andrew following Jesus, then he goes to find his brother Simon, tell him and bring him to meet Jesus too! In the same place Philip meets Jesus and the first thing he does is run off to find Nathaniel and tell him. Then he prompts him, "Come and see for yourself."
When you start to walk with the Lord regularly, intimately, relationally, you get to know Him and when you know Him, things change inside. Things feel different. Life is still hard, storms still come, ups/downs keep on upping and downing, but something changes, and you just can't help but want others to know Him too. To see, hear and feel this change.
It's not about beating people over the head with a set of religious rules, it's about sharing real, relationship with Jesus and with one another. It's about sharing in something unshakable, rooted in your core and no thing, no person, no government, no power can ever take it away.
I have experienced the Lord personally in many ways over the years and I say, come have fellowship with me because I want you to share in this fellowship I have with my God, with my Father, with Jesus. Come and see for yourself!
You absolutely can have true, real relationship and fellowship with God but like I always say, it's a choice. What will you choose today?
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