BELIEVING THE RIGHT THINGS

The life which one receives upon believing in the Lord is a life shared with many other people. If the believer looks even from just one vantage point, whether it be that of the household of God or that of the dwelling place of God or that of the body of Christ, the picture he gets shows that he is but a part of the whole.

How then can he desire to live in isolation? To do so surely means to miss the fullness in God. He may seek to maintain fellowship with God, yet he will miss out on much if he is not properly joined together with others. He will not be able to fully emit the light of the highest and most abundant life, for it is only in the church that fullness is found.How can one be in a family of five brothers and sisters and have no communication with them?

If I am the only child in the family, I cannot maintain any contact with my other brothers and sisters for I have none. But if I am not an only child, but one among five, just a part of the family, how dare I suggest that I will not have any relationship with my brothers and sisters but will be my father’s only child? Can I shut myself in a room and tell the rest of the family not to bother me because I am my father’s only child? Can I then have nothing to do with the rest of them?

When one believes in the Lord, he does not become an only begotten son; he is rather one son among tens of thousands. This very fact eliminates the possibility of shutting oneself up solely to the Father. Though you may be born as an only child in an earthly family, yet when you believe in the Lord, you are born again into the biggest family in the world. No family can be bigger than this family of God, for it includes countless numbers of brothers and sisters.

Do not despise them because there is such a great multitude of them; seek rather to know them and to communicate with them since you yourself are one of them. If you have no desire at all to see your brothers and sisters, I wonder if you are really a brother or sister in the Lord. How can one who is born of God not be moved in his heart by those who are also born of God? Can he refuse to give them the right hand of fellowship?

It is not a Christian concept for a person to be only concerned with his own welfare. Being in the family, one has to be a brother to the brothers, a sister to the sisters. Such a relationship comes from the life of God and is filled with love. Who does not long for his brothers and sisters, who does not desire to see them and have fellowship with them? This is a wonderful thing!

Please remember: though you receive the life of God personally, yet the life you receive belongs to tens of thousands of the children of God; yours is but a part of the whole. The very nature of your new life is not independence—it requires you to fellowship with the rest of the brethren.