“Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” Matthew 23:24
Dear Ones:
It has been said that, “Fellowship with Christ makes the complicated simple.” However, it is amazing how many enemies there are to true fellowship with Christ, that life of abiding in Him, deriving all from Him. This communion is assailed by the unbelieving world, fomented by the spiritual opposition of the devil. The path of such communion is strewn with entanglements, obstacles, difficulties, and distractions. This opposition and resistance is often directed at the mind, for it is in the mind that truth is first known, and comes to lodge. If truth can be prevented to enter the mind, by virtue of a lack of opportunity to hear it, how then can faith be born? How can communion be realized? Communion with Christ is ALWAYS according to the truth, by the Spirit. But what of the heart, and also of the mind, which has not been adequately informed of the truth? There may be the genuine desire and will to follow Christ, to know Him, and to commune with Him. But if truth is not understood, or if there is truth mixed with error, then fellowship with Christ will be limited. Thank God that Christ looks upon the attitude of the heart with respect to desire. He is ever seeking to bring the believer to a true and balanced understanding of the truth…for one purpose, communion. It is at this point that we need to consider one of the issues that can BLOCK, or limit, true fellowship with Christ, with God. It has to do with a gnat and a camel.
Throughout history, we discover that when a person, or nation, will no longer honestly abide by the truth, an alternative, or modification, to the truth, will be sought. This was the case with the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. The Bible clearly affirms in the Old Testament that justification before God was BY FAITH. “Abraham BELIEVED God, and it was accounted unto him as righteousness.”(Genesis 15:6) Habakkuk wrote: “The just shall live by faith.” (2:4) The Pharisees had so modified the truth, and its applications, by adding to it, that they created a system by which THEY could obey their own commandments, establishing their own justification. What occurred when they did this? They exchanged something of an immense worth and magnitude, for something of minimal value. Paul gives us some idea of the contrast by writing: “(they) changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man.” (Romans1:23) The Pharisees, instead of using the Law of Moses in a right manner, and respond to it by coming to Christ, would exchange, that which was of major worth and value, for a system that resembled a gnat. In doing so, they became gullible to great deception, and misplaced devotion. They would swallow a camel. The Christian, to some extent, can be guilty of the same thing, depriving the Lord, himself, and others, of true and blessed fellowship with Christ, by majoring on that which is minor. What then is this MAJOR thing, above all “religion,” principles and practices? It is Christ Himself, alone and salient, great and glorious…and waiting to be wanted.
We know that Life IS Christ, and the worship of Him is essential to any real communion with Him. We know also that His word is essential to true faith, that attitude and act of the heart whereby we rely upon, and receive ALL from Christ. If the interpretation of Scripture, or even the accumulated knowledge of it, diminishes our reliance upon Christ for all, then we have made a substitution, like the Pharisees. We are majoring on minor things. The simplicity of fellowship with Christ has its foundation in the earnest and diligently study of the word of God. This holy, and wonderful, endeavor, should ever increase our vision of Christ, His work, in order that our faith can intelligently, and in a balanced manner, be absolutely dependent upon Him, the Living Vine, Good Shepherd, Eternal God, and Life itself.
Dear Father, Teach us Thy way of fellowship with Thy Son, always majoring on the most important, and essential, things. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad