The Fellowship

The Fellowship¹

"Why the pain?" "Why the suffering?" "Why does it have to be so hard," my aged father agonized with labored breath? I did not have an answer, I did not understand "the fellowship of His sufferings."

"Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings" (cf. 1 Peter 4:12-13).

Why rejoice as "partakers of Christ's sufferings"? That we "may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death" (cf. Philippians 3:10).


Partaking of and sharing in His sufferings, We come to "know" Him in ways passing all understanding. In "the power of His resurrection" we have absolute certainty of His resurrection and our own. "And being made conformable unto His death," "we are conformed to the image of his Son" (cf. Romans 8:29), "[having] ceased from sin" (cf. 1 Peter 4:1).

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).

The sacred intimacy of "the fellowship of His sufferings" perfected in "fiery trial" may transcend even this.



¹By Awesomoman - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8060468

The Face of God

The brightness of his glory¹

“Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible, and inexplicable."

Einstein's restless contemplation of the "subtle, intangible, and inexplicable" allowed him to see the invisible fabric of "space and time," but unfortunately, not "the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity"!

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (the only begotten of the Father)..." (cf. John 1:14).



"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son... he hath declared him" (cf. John 1:18).

His Son "is the image of the invisible God..." (cf. Col 1:15).

"He that seeth me seeth him that sent me" (cf. John 12:45).

"Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father..." (John 14:8-9).

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6).

"[His Son] being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high"(cf. Hebrews 1:3).

"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (2 Corinthians 4:4).



¹By NASA, ESA and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ANGC_6302_Hubble_2009.full.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/NGC_6302_Hubble_2009.full.jpg

 ©2017 Christian. Textual content may be copied and distributed, but it may not be sold.

Shall Wax Old

Another year has "waxed old," as have we, for "all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away."

"Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands; They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same..." (Hebrews 1:10-12).