Romans 15:29 (NLT)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd I am sure that when I come, Christ will richly bless our time together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How can Paul be so sure that when he comes, \u201cChrist will bless (their) time together\u201d? What gave him this assurance? I believe it was because of the practice they had, which was usually one that fosters deep mutual edification and upliftment, around the person of Christ. They didn\u2019t just gather together for a fellowship program. When they gathered or met together, they were usually very conscious of their need for Jesus to be at the center of it all. Whenever and wherever Jesus is the hub of an issue, He brings His blessings to bear on the community. Wherever and whenever Man is at the center of it all, the gathering is open to self-promotion, self-arrogation, self-elevation, self-sustenance, self-agenda and all forms of selfishness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We need to go beyond the program of fellowship, to lifting Jesus high in our meetings so that He can turn around and \u201crichly bless our time together.\u201d It must be all about Christ. Our meetings must be about Him. Our fellowship must be about Him. What should separate us from the clubhouse of unbelievers (who also have their fellowship in darkness) is that our interaction is anchored on Christ, and He comes with untold riches in multiple blessings. A fellowship that does not display and manifest the blessings of Jesus is not the kind of fellowship that heaven has ordained. Let\u2019s keep this in mind: Jesus wants to always take center stage and when He does, our fellowship will have true value and meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLord, I confess that many of our meetings are too focused on us and our agenda. We don\u2019t make the gathering about You, and hence, we often get entangled in so many silly distractions and self-centered emptiness. Please Lord, may we return to always making You the center of our meetings, so that You can richly bless our time with one another and with You, in Jesus name. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romans 15:29 (NLT) \u201cAnd I am sure that when I come, Christ will richly bless our time together.\u201d How can Paul be so sure that when he comes, \u201cChrist will bless (their) time together\u201d? What gave him this assurance? I believe it was because of the practice they had, which was usually one that fosters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-reflections-from-romans"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t