Fellowship With the Father and With His Son

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.                                                                                                    –1 John 1:1-4

The Gnostics were a religious sect who were contemporaries of the early Christians and who held particularly destructive views of life. To begin, the Gnostics believed that Jesus was not a real person but rather a phantom person. Also, they believed all physical matter was simply tainted and evil. However, a person's spiritual being was pure and unable to be tainted. Therefore, one's actions (whether good or bad) could not affect one's purity of spirit. Amidst the apostle John's eloquent dismantling of Gnostic thinking, he develops four themes in his letter to 1st century believers: light, truth, life, and love (1:2, 5, 6, 8; 2:4, 9-10).

In these beginning verses of John's letter, he is saying that the Gnostics have it wrong: Jesus was not a phantom spirit, but rather He was a real person whom John himself had seen, heard, and touched. Furthermore, walking in fellowship with Jesus and his followers means we cannot be like the Gnostics who had no regard for physical matter or our physical lives. We simply do not have the luxury of ignoring the manner in which we live, as if it doesn't matter. John says it like this: "Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did" (v.6). In other words, our physical lives do matter—not only in our fellowship with others, but in our fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ—for from this fellowship comes our joy.

May we all combat Gnostic thinking in our lives by reflecting upon how Jesus lived. May we walk as He walked. May we live in light and truth and love. May we have fellowship with the Father and with his Son, the one who was seen and heard and touched, the one who is alive and who makes our joy complete.

Finding Satisfaction in Our Work

A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. -Eccl. 2:24

The author of Ecclesiastes was a "preacher," (1:1) which could also be translated "assembler," which designated someone who assembled the people publicly in order to instruct them in the way of Yahweh. This assembler had "acquired great wisdom" (v.16), which may suggest Solomon (or perhaps a "king over Israel in Jerusalem" (v.13) after Solomon). Either way, the author of the book of Ecclesiastes was a preacher of wisdom who greatly valued the process of applying knowledge to life.

So, he came up with a grand experiment to test his wisdom and to find clarity, meaning, and fulfillment in life. He determined to experience all possible pleasures "under the sun" (1:14). He sought out laughter, wine, and celebrations (2:2-3). He built houses, vineyards, parks, and gardens (vv.4-5). He amassed great riches and material wealth, both herds of livestock and precious metals like gold and silver (vv.6-8). He had all sorts of parties and denied himself no pleasure (vv.8-10). In the end, his conclusion was "all was vanity and a striving after wind" (v.11).

He did make a few unexpected conclusions along the way, however. On the one hand, he concluded "What a heavy burden God has laid on men! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind" (1:13-14), but then he discovered he actually found some pleasure in his work of building houses and planting gardens (2:4). In fact, he actually said, "My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor" (2:10)!

One pleasant surprise we can take away from this grand life experiment is that work is a gift from God. Like building houses or gardens, we need to find things in our work that we enjoy, and press more deeply into them. We need to aspire to excellent work. We need to make goals, build progress, and work hard, for in so doing, we may be surprised just how much satisfaction God will give us in all our work under the sun.

The Good Portion

And a woman named Martha welcomed [Jesus] into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving...and said, "Lord...tell [Mary] to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her."   –Lk 10:41-42

We don't need more serving and running around. We don't need more work. We don't need more money. We don't need more status. We don't need more significance and power and ego and recognition. We only need more of one thing in life—communion with God. Since Martha is preparing food, Jesus takes the opportunity to create a metaphor for this communion with Him. He says Mary has chosen "the good portion." In other words, enjoying God's presence and reflecting over His teaching is like enjoying a really, really, really good meal. 

Mary chose to minimize her distractions and focus on Jesus. Martha was preoccupied with food and serving Jesus, but He simply wanted her to enjoy His presence. Only initiative and self-conscious choosing will result in being satisfied by the good portion. What's more is the distractions will lose their luster, but time spent with Jesus will not be taken away from us. His presence and teaching will satisfy us and never leave us wanting. So, like Mary, may we all choose the good portion. May we all enjoy God's presence each day like a well-prepared meal.

Kindness and Truth

Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good repute
In the sight of God and man.
      –Prov. 3:3-4

The beauty of Proverbs is Solomon's (and others') ability to reduce life's issues down to their essence. Proverbs has a refreshing way of simplifying life for us. Everyone knows we have to relate to one another. Sometimes it goes well; sometimes it goes badly. Sometimes we are concerned for the other person; sometimes we are not. Sometimes we try to impress others; sometimes we try to ignore them. So, what is the best way to relate to others in all situations? 

Essentially, we need neither to impress nor ignore. According to Solomon, we simply need to treat everyone with kindness and truth. Doing so will uphold the dignity of all and communicate that everyone matters. It may even lead to greater influence and opportunity of joy in relationships. Let us treat everyone, including ourselves and God, with kindness and truth. Then, we will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.