I love being a dad. I love being the dad to my little girl, Reese. She's 2. She has a way of saying things with her little, squeaky voice. When we are all sitting at the table for dinner and she is sitting in her high-chair, she will say, "We r aall t'gethrrr". (It's the cutest stinkin' thing I've heard). As she says it she looks around with a big, toothy smile and tender eyes. She loves for us all to be together.
It makes me think of the family of God. I love it when we are "aall t'gethrrr".
Of course, we've all come across people who say they are Christians but have no desire at all to be in fellowship with other believers.
I think about those folks right now because I'm reading 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13.
"How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? (10) Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith. (11) Now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. (12) May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. (13) May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones."
What is standing out to me, especially in verses 9-11, is the way Paul wants to be with those believers in Thessalonica.
I know sometimes Christians go through seasons where they've been hurt, or, they can't find a good church. But, when someone says things like, "I can be a Christian and not have to go to church" that's hard to understand. It's hard to see how someone could feel that way. Don't you want to be with other Christians?
I think so. I think there is something in us all that makes us want to be with each other. For one thing, we have spiritual unity (1 Cor. 12:12) - and we should want to come together because of that unity. There certainly was something like that in Paul and the early believers. It was produced by the Holy Spirit who dwelled within them. After all, in the first church "all the believers were together" and "everyday they continued to meet together..." (Acts 2:44,46). This was after they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39).
People want to be with others they have things in common with, right? I mean, if people have sports, or political ideas, or other interests in common, it draws them to each other. We have so much in common with each other now that we are "in Christ". Paul taught that and it created a strong affinity with those believers in Thessalonica (1 Thess. 1:2; 2:7-8,17,19-20; 3:1,5-8).
I can't help but start thinking about all the things we have in common. Remember Ephesians 4 when it says, we are one body, we have one Spirit, we have one hope, one calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father over all (v4-6). We also all have an inheritance (Eph. 1:14) and an adoption into God's family (Eph. 1:5). We've been given the true teachings of the faith (Jude 3) and God has even given us to each other (Rom. 12:5). The list can keep going.
In reading the NT I find that believers want to be with each other. They want to. They really do. Not because they're all perfect and no problems come up. But, because they're loved by God. And what God loves, His children love (1 John 4:19). If we really love God, then we will really love each other, and we will want to be with each other. We want to be together while we wait for the day we will all be with our Lord (1 Thess. 4:17).
It appears this is the norm for a Christian's heart. "Let us not give meeting together..." (Heb. 10:25a). May it be the norm in our hearts. That just as Christ wants to be with His Bride (John 17:24) may we want to be with His Bride too (1 John 1:3; Philippians 1:8).
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