Daily Devotional
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The Joy of Fellowship
…that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:3-7 (ESV)
In the beginning of this Lenten season, we remember Jesus emerging from his testing in the desert, where he fasted and prayed. This was crucial before he did anything. He had just been baptized, when he rose from the waters to hear the voice from heaven tell him who he was: “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy” (Mk 1:11, NLT). Immediately after that he is led to the desert where each temptation begins with “If you are the Son…” Maybe even if you are dearly loved and if you bring Him great joy?
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Jesus had to go through this time because his ministry and life would flow out of his identity: he is the Son and he’s dearly loved by his Father. Just being who he is gives him great joy.
So it is with us. By knowing who we are as people whose “fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ,” we walk in the light. We can’t help it.
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Especially in a time of deep division — like the one out of which Pietism was born — we proclaim what we see and hear from our fellowship with Jesus that actually impacts our fellowship with one another.
God, you are light, and in you there is no darkness at all.
And yet you call me, a sinner, what you called your Son: beloved, child.
Help me to confess my sins, receive the gift of your forgiveness, and walk in the light.
In the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
Bret M. Widman
Chicago, Illinois