1 Corinthians 1:9 - SUPREME GIFT AND TREASURE - RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST!!!
1 Corinthians 1:9 (NKJV) God is faithful, by
whom you were called into the fellowship of His
Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:9 (NIV) God is faithful, who
has called you into fellowship with his Son,
Jesus Christ our LORD.
1 Corinthians 1:9 (TEV) God is to be
trusted, the God who called you to have fellowship
with His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:9 (AMP) God is faithful
(reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His
promise, and He can be depended on); by Him you were
called into companionship and participation with
His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:9 (CWR) You can always
depend on what God says. When he called you into
his grace, he called you into fellowship with
His own son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
COMMENTARY PEARL
When Life Gives Lemons
One of the toughest days of my life found
me in a diner in Dalton, Georgia. I was
nineteen years old, a thousand miles from home, and
sleeping at the Salvation Army shelter.
On the promise of fast cash, I'd signed
on to sell books door-to-door. I quickly made
this discovery: no one likes a door-to-door
salesman. My first day was miserable: "Hello, I'm
Max..." Slam. "Hello, I'm Max..." Slam. "Hello, I'm
Max..." Slam.
Day two wasn't any better. As I was
paying my lunch bill at a diner, I spotted a
display of magnets by the cash register. One was
yellow, shaped like a lemon, and contained these
words: "When life gives you a lemon, make
lemonade."
The slogan was just enough to convince me
to keep at the job. I bought the magnet and,
whenever I got discouraged, I would rub my thumb over
the rubber lemon and remind myself, I can make
myself miserable, or I can make myself some
lemonade.
Life comes with lemons. But we don't have
to suck on them. [You Can Count On God by Max
Lucado]
COMMENTARY
When plans are frustrated or life just
seems to fall apart in some way, people often
wonder, Has God deserted me? Why hasn't He answered
my prayers? The Bible offers encouragement for
such times by assuring us of the Father's
faithfulness: "Know therefore that the Lord your God, He
is God, the faithful God, who keeps His
covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth
generation with those who love Him and keep His
commandments" (Deut 7:9).
Five attributes of God make this
possible. First, He is omniscient, which means He
knows everything, including our every need,
thought, frailty, desire, and life situation in the
past, present, and future. Next, the Lord is
omnipotent, or all-powerful, so nothing is too hard for
Him (Jer. 32:17). Then, He is omnipresent -
since He exists everywhere at once, He is never
beyond reach.
In addition, our heavenly Father cannot
lie. Everything that He says is true and
reliable. And lastly, God is unchanging. Our
circumstances and the world around us may seem to be in a
constant state of flux, and the Lord may even modify
the way He chooses to interact with mankind in
different generations. But His character is always the
same. So when Scripture tells us that God is
faithful, we can rest confidently upon that promise.
Circumstances can be painful. But even
when situations seem overwhelming, believers can
trust that our sovereign Lord knows all, is in
control, and lovingly works everything for His
children's good. We can rest confidently knowing that
the unchanging God of all creation is taking
care of us. [In Touch Daily Devotional by Charles
Stanley at www.intouch.org]
Fellowship With Christ
The true Christian keeps the windows of
the soul open heavenward. He lives in fellowship
with Christ. His will is conformed to the will of
Christ. His highest desire is to become more and
more Christlike, that he may say with Paul: I
am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me
(Galatians 2:20).
Earnestly and untiringly we are to strive
to reach Gods ideal for us. Not as a penance
are we to do this, but as the only means of
gaining true happiness. The only way to gain peace
and joy is to have a living connection with Him
who gave His life for us, who died that we might
live, and who lives to unite His power with the
efforts of those who are striving to overcome.
Holiness is constant agreement with God.
Shall we not strive to be that which Christ so
greatly desires us to be"Christians in deed and in
truth"that the world may see in our lives a revelation
of the saving power of truth? This world is our
preparatory school. While here we shall meet with trials
and difficulties. Continually the enemy of God
will seek to draw us away from our allegiance.
But while we cleave to Him who gave Himself for
us we are safe.
The whole world was gathered into the
embrace of Christ. He died on the cross to destroy
him who had the power of death and to take away
the sin of every believing soul. He calls upon
us to offer ourselves on the altar of service,
a living, consuming sacrifice. We are to make
an unreserved consecration to God of all that
we have and are.
In this lower school of earth we are to
learn the lessons that will prepare us to enter
the higher school, where our education will
continue under the personal instruction of Christ.
Then He will open to us the meaning of His word.
Shall we not, in the few days of probation
remaining to us, act like men and women who are
seeking for life in the kingdom of God, even an
eternity of bliss? We cannot afford to miss the
privilege of seeing Christ face to face and of hearing
from His lips the story of redemption. HP33
CLOSING PEARL
Fellowship
Seek fellowship with other Christians.
Daniel Rowlands, a famous Welsh revivalist of a
past century, said: "The whole purpose of the
Christian message can be summarized in a single word -
fellowship."
What did he mean? First John 1:3 spells
it out clearly: "And indeed our fellowship is
with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ."
Listen to it as it appears in The Amplified Bible:
"What we have seen and ourselves heard, we are
also telling you, so that you too may realize and
enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with
us. And this fellowship that we have ... is with
the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, the
Messiah." At first, John seems to say that the
fellowship is "with us," but he hastens to add that our
fellowship "is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus
Christ."
Follow me carefully now, for what I am
about to say can be easily misunderstood: the
person who does not know fellowship with God can
never know fellowship with anyone else. It must be
noted that I am here using the word "fellowship"
in its highest possible sense. The one who does
not know fellowship with God will feel,
consciously or unconsciously, that he is cut off from
the very roots of his being. He will feel like a
spiritual orphan. This is why our horizontal
relationships - that is, our relationship with ourselves
and with others"can never be fully realized
until we experience a vertical relationship, a
relationship with God. Only when we are reconciled with
God do we have the potential for experiencing
true fellowship with ourselves and with others.
Father, I see that I cannot experience
true fellowship with myself or with others until
I have known it with You. Help me to deepen my
fellowship with You so that I might deepen it with
others. In Jesus' name. Amen. [Every Day With Jesus
Bible with Selwyn Hughes devotional]
LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY
Revelation 3:20 - An Invitation For
Relationship With Divinity.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2022/20220506-0938.html
Revelation 3:20 - KEY TO HAPPINESS.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2021/20210531-1044.html
John 15:5 - LEARNING TO ABIDE IN JESUS.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2021/20210503-0932.html
John 15:4, 5 - The Pursuit of God.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2021/20211031-1051.html
YOUR COMMENTS
If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in
hearing from you. Thanks in advance and let's keep
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred
Gibbs
