Of Fellowship Sweet and Sour

There are times that I so long for fellowship with believers in Jesus, when my spirit would leap when I heard another mention His name. And, oh, I so long to spend time talking about my Lord with others while sitting at His gates! Not talking only, but listening to my brothers and sisters share their ‘How Great Thou Art,’ moments – not by hymn – but singing the verses Christ wrote in their lives.

Sadly, such sweet fellowship is infrequent away from the Sunday dressing rooms of many churches, where the congregants put on their make-up, smile and extend a perfunctory right hand of fellowship but then secretly slip back on their gloves shortly after the benediction. I am not saying these dear ones are not Christians – only the Father knows His elect – but as brothers and sisters, the relationships can be likened to distant cousins, where the Spirit of God seems removed ten generations.

Still, I pray for revival – first within our members, before we can reasonably hope to see the Gospel advance without (meaning outside the church.) But revival cannot be ‘without;’ no, not without the church having concern more about the whiteness of its wedding gown over the application of its facial pancake, mascara, and scent of its cheap man-made perfume.