"Him In Them"

   When I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior in 1975, I did not realize that the gift of salvation would include multitudes of brothers and sisters who would so bless and enrich my life that I cannot imagine having lived without them.

    "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments, as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion.  For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore" (Psalm 133:1-3).

    I thought of such blessing yesterday as Frances and I had lunch with our dear sister in Christ and friend Eunice.  We met her through these devotionals.  Neither Eunice nor I can recall who it was that recommended the messages to her, but we are certainly glad they did!  We have communicated by email for many years, but only in the few years have we regularly met face to face.  Eunice is 86 years young, loves the Lord and people, and as such, has countless friends who love her in grateful response.  Frances and I consider ourselves to be blessed beyond measure that we know Eunice, and to be counted among those friends.  She is a great example to us of faith and faithfulness, and she is high among the list of those believers who I can't imagined have lived without knowing.

    The Lord Jesus Himself comes to us in a special dispensation of grace through our brothers and sisters.  We see Him in them.  The indwelling Holy Spirit reveals the character, nature, and way of the Savior though the countless personalities, dispositions, gifts, and callings of fellow believers who share the common life of Christ.  Like a jewel graced with millions of facets, the light of God shines in and through us in countless rays of hue, intensity, and beauty.  The humanity of believers serves as the holy absorber and reflector of Divinity as, again, we see Him in them.  "I am the light of the world… Ye shine as lights in the world" (John 8:12; Philippians 2:15).  

    I wish you could all know Eunice.  I wish you could all know each other!  I am the one blessed with the wondrous gift of seeing in you the Light of the world shine forth in so many lamps illuminated by the grace and truth of the Lord Jesus.  No, I didn't know all those years ago when I believed in Christ that the grace of God comes with the family of God in Christ.  I now know, and I cannot imagine what these past 16 and a half years would have been like without the Lord having come to me so often through you.  I wouldn't have wanted to have lived apart from such a gift, and I bow my heart before our blessed Father to give thanks that I haven't had to do so.

"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in Heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, might comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."

(Ephesians 3:14-19)

Weekly Memory Verse

  He is the rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are done in judgment, a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.

(Deuteronomy 32:4)