Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

November 23– Morning

 by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“…fellowship with him.” 

—I John 1:6

When we were united by faith to Christ, we were brought into such complete fellowship with him that we were made one with him; his interests and ours became mutual and identical.

We have fellowship with Christ in several ways. First, in terms of his love, we love what he loves. He loves the saints, and so do we. He loves sinners; we do, too. He loves the poor, dying race of man and pants to see earth’s deserts transformed into the garden of the Lord; we have the same yearning.

We have fellowship with him in his desires. He desires the glory of God, and we work for the same thing. He desires that the saints may be with him where he is, and we desire to be with him too. He desires to drive out sin, and we fight under his flag. He desires for his Father’s name to be loved and adored by all his creatures, and we pray daily for his Kingdom to come.

We also have fellowship with Christ in his sufferings. We are not nailed to the cross, nor do we die a cruel death, but when he is reproached, we are reproached.  It is a very sweet thing to be blamed for his sake, to be despised for following the Master, and to have the world against us. The disciple should not be above his Lord.

And, lastly, we have fellowship with Christ in his joys. We are happy in his happiness, and we rejoice in his exaltation. Have you ever tasted that joy, believer? There is no purer or more thrilling delight to be experienced this side heaven than that of having Christ’s joy fulfilled in us. Let your joy be full today. [M&E]