Fellowship with God

552 community with godTwo Christians talked to each other about their churches. Over the course of the conversation, they compared the biggest achievements they had made in their respective communities over the past year. One of the men said: «We doubled the size of our parking lot». The other replied, "We have installed new lighting in the parish hall." We Christians are so easily involved in doing things that we believe to be God's work, leaving little time for God.

Our priorities

We can be distracted from our mission and find the physical aspects of our church service (although necessary) so important that we have little, if any, time left for fellowship with God. When we are busy in hectic activity for God, we can easily forget what Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites who tithe mint, dill and caraway and leave aside the most important thing in the law, namely right, mercy and faith! But one should do this and not leave that "(Matthew 23,23).
The scribes and Pharisees lived under the specific and rigorous standards of the Old Covenant. Sometimes we read this and ridicule the subtle accuracy of these people, but Jesus did not mock. He told them they should have done what the covenant asked them to do.

Jesus' point was that physical details were not enough, not even for those who lived under the Old Covenant - he reprimanded them because they ignored the deeper spiritual issues. As Christians, we should be busily working in the Father's business. We should be generous with our giving. But in all our activities - even in our activities directly related to the imitation of Jesus Christ - we should not neglect the essential reasons why God has called us.

God has called us so that we may know him. "But that is eternal life, that they know you, who you are the only true God and whom you have sent, Jesus Christ" (John 17,3). It is possible to get so busy with God's work that we neglect to come to Him. Luke tells us the story when Jesus visited Martha and Mary's house that "Martha was busy serving him" (Luke 10,40). There was nothing wrong with Marta's actions, but Mary decided to do the most important thing - spend time with Jesus, get to know him, and listen to him.

Fellowship with God

Community is the most important thing God wants from us. He wants us to get to know him more and spend time with him. Jesus set an example for us as he slowed the pace of his life of being with his father. He knew the meaning of quiet moments and often went alone to the mountain to pray. The more mature we become in our relationship with God, the more important is this quiet time with God. We look forward to being alone with him. We recognize the need to listen to him in order to find comfort and guidance for our lives. Recently, I met a person who explained to me that she combined active communion with God in prayer and physical activity - and that this kind of prayer parsing had revolutionized her prayer life. She spent time with God taking walks - either in her immediate neighborhood or in the beauty of the natural environment outside, praying while walking.

When you make communion with God a priority, all the urgency of your life seems to be self-organizing. When you focus on God, he helps you understand the priority of everything else. They can be so busy with activities that they neglect to spend time with God and spend time with others in communion with God. If you are totally stressed out, burning off the proverbial candle on both ends and you do not know how to do all the things you have to do in life, then maybe you should check your spiritual diet.

Our spiritual diet

We may be burned out and spiritually empty because we are not eating the right kind of bread. The type of bread I am talking about is absolutely necessary for our spiritual health and survival. This bread is supernatural bread - in fact, it is real miracle bread! It is the same bread that Jesus offered the Jews in the first century. Jesus had just miraculously provided food for 5.000 people (John 6,1-15). He had just walked on the water and still the crowds demanded a sign to believe in him. They explained to Jesus: “Our fathers ate manna in the desert, as it is written (Psalm 78,24): He gave them bread from heaven to eat »(John 6,31).
Jesus replied: “Verily, verily, I say to you: It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For this is the bread of God, which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world »(John 6,32-33). After they asked Jesus to give them this bread, he explained: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not go hungry; and whoever believes in me will never thirst »(Johannes 6,35).

Who puts spiritual bread on the table? Who is the source of all your energy and vitality? Who gives meaning and meaning to your life? Do you take the time to get to know the bread of life?

by Joseph Tkach