Daily Devotional – 5/22/17 “Missing the fellowship”

On yesterday, I witnessed the true meaning of fellowship, something that is missing in a lot of worship places of today. My niece, Michaiah, who is 15 years, is preparing to study abroad her sophomore year of high school and in September, she will travel to Italy. Yesterday, there was a benefit to help offset the over $15K in fees associated with making her dream a reality because we cannot do it alone. Some new villagers were added to the tribe of #forMichaiahsbenefit and they came together, in a way of fellowship and raised over $2300. It was amazing. I am sharing this because there is not a lot of fellowship happening within the walls of worship places anymore. Just think about it. There used to be a time when a person was sick, the ‘fellowship’ of believers would rally around and pray. Now, they just show up to be the first to get information. When a person died, the ‘fellowship’ would ensure the family lacked for nothing but now, you can’t even get a 7 piece chicken without everybody knowing you were the one who bought it. When the pastor is going through, the ‘fellowship’ would rally around to hold up his/her arms but now most of them are the ones causing the hell.

The bible says in Hebrews 10:24-25, “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” What happened to fellowship? Where are the services that actually care about your soul? What happened to the deacons and trustees that care about God’s assigned under shepherds and not the savings account? What happened to the fellowship of believers who can recite the mission statement or tell you the real vision of the church? Where is the fellowship of folk who still follow the law of God? Where is the fellowship of believers who can pay somebody’s light bill without it needing a vote from the majority? What happened to the fellowship who would hold up those who were leaning? Where are the believers who once covered the altar for others in spite of what they were going through? I am only asking because I miss this kind of fellowship. The genuine fellowship of closed mouths and open arms to receive you without knowing your problem. The fellowship of prayers to rebuke the storm you’re in. The fellowship of mothers who carried something to cover your knees if your skirt was too short but never made you feel bad about it. The fellowship of men who you could look up too instead of them looking at you. Where is the fellowship? If you see, tell him I’ve been looking for him.