What a nice time to write this post- on a Sunday morning before church, looking forward to a great soul satisfying sermon and fellowship with other believers.
It's amazing to see how much richer ancient fellowship was, reading 1st Corinthians 16 yesterday- his planned trips and how the brothers and sisters greeeted each other.
Can you imagine in this era of no electronic communication, looking at the shore and seeing the Apostle Paul himself arriving on a ship and knowing he will stay with you for a season for rich fellowship?
But to see the sacredness and specialness of fellowship we need to learn a humbling truth— God’s love is not expressed in the same way toward all people. He shows kindness to all through His common grace, but He sets a special, saving love upon His people. Look at the language He uses in the OT for OT Israel compared to other nations. For the NT- read Ephesians, John and 1 John.
Don't come to wrong conclusions from this- ofcourse we are called to charity to help both believers and non believers and ofcourse we are called to love our non believing relatives and see them just as we did before becoming Christians- we are not in a cult.
But let us conclude with John 13:35- the special love believers have for each other is actually evidence to the world of our faith in Christ.
