Fellowship with God.

A lawyer’s dog ran into a butcher shop and stole a roast. The butcher went to the lawyer’s office and asked him, “If a dog is without a leash and steals a roast from my store, do I have the legal right to require payment for the meat that was taken from me?”

The lawyer answered the butcher, “Oh yes, absolutely.”

“The dog was your dog, the meat was my meat, and–according to your own advice–you owe me ten dollars for the meat your dog took from me today.”

The lawyer agreed with the butcher and immediately wrote the butcher a check for ten dollars.

A few days later the butcher received a letter from the lawyer. The butcher opened the envelope and found an invoice for sixty dollars for the lawyer’s consultation fee.

Romans 11:33 KJV 1900

33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

The Christian life is not easy, but it is eternally worthwhile. And doing good is not always easy, but there is a reward. Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” How do you fight the weariness? How do you keep on keeping on? By mastering the Bible, by guarding your mind, by developing convictions, by having the courage to be different, and by meeting regularly with other Christians for support and encouragement. Are you satisfied to be a thermometer, simply registering the spiritual coldness of the environment around you? Or are you willing to be God’s thermostat in your corner of the world? Use your influence for God and for good in your world this week.

Warren, Rick. God's Power to Change Your Life (Living with Purpose) (p. 155). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

1 John 1:3–6 KJV 1900

3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

1 John 1:7 KJV 1900

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

2 Corinthians 6:14 KJV 1900

14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Ephesians 5:8–11 KJV 1900

8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

1 John 1:8–10 KJV 1900

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

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