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Perfect Harmony
by Chantelle Cudger When someone mentions the term fellowship, what do you immediately think of? Quite naturally, I'm sure that most of us turn our hearts towards those wonderful moments of praise and worship that we spend together each Sunday morning, singing songs of adoration to our Savior. We may even consider the awesome blessing of being able to support the Lord's work through our giving. Or, we think of the time we spend taking part in communion and hearing the teaching of His word. Ah, now this is what true fellowship is all about, right? Wrong. Though all of these things are intricate parts of what makes up fellowship for us as a body of believers, by no means is this where our fellowship ends. Pure Godly fellowship amongst a church should not begin the moment we enter the sanctuary and end when the sermon is done. If anything, these are the moments where God is equipping us with what we need so that we are able to continuously strengthen and encourage one another. In turn, a unity is created whereby with one heart and one mouth we are able to glorify God together (Romans 15:6). God has both called and equipped each of us with what the other needs in order to grow in their spiritual walk (Romans 15:1). One of the most awesome things that we fail to realize about fellowship is that each of us has something to offer. God has uniquely created our personalities, and orchestrated our circumstances and experiences in ways that distinctly suit us (I Corinthians 12:4-6). However, nothing that He gives us is solely for our own benefit, but for the edification of the body (Romans 15:2, v.5). How are you using your God-given talents and abilities to edify your church family? We must not take lightly the fact that we have been so very blessed with the opportunity to be a part of not just what God is doing in our church, but around the world. What a grateful privilege we should consider it each week to have freely available to us the all of the tools, resources, classes, and Godly leadership that allow us to become the effective disciples that God has called us to be. Our Father's Word sums it up best in saying: "Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, "How can I help?" That's exactly what Jesus did. He didn't make it easy for himself by avoiding people's troubles, but waded right in and helped out. "I took on the troubles of the troubled," is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it's written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we'll be a choirnot our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus! So reach out and welcome one another to God's glory. Jesus did it; now you do it" (Romans 15:1-7 Message Bible)! Chantelle Cudger was born and raised in Atlanta, GA the sixth of eleven siblings; she holds her family close to her heart. She attends First Baptist Atlanta where she has also served in the Pre-School Ministry for 9 yrs. She is also actively involved in both short-term missions and local outreach Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |