Today, find delight in the quiet company of Christ. Enjoy a little wordless worship of him, as well as his quiet pleasure in you.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a word about unspoken Fellowship.
I remember when I was a little girl, when my daddy would set up his easel and oil paints after dinner. I knew what that meant, and boy did it excite me. I would get to watch my father choose colors, squeeze the oils on a palette, mix the most amazing shades and tones of yellow, and green, and red. I’d get to lean on his desk and watch him paint horses and vistas of the old West. Often he used photos from National Geographic, and occasionally, he let me help choose the photo he would paint. Evenings when Daddy would work on his oil paintings were the best ever. And I wasn’t a passive observer to all this, oh no.
When my father sat down to paint, I would pull out my cowboy coloring book, sit on the floor next to him, and work with my crayons. Every once in a while, Daddy would glance down at my picture and say, “Nice job,” but for the most part, hardly a word was spoken between us. Sometimes more than an hour or two would go by, Daddy quietly painting, and me scribbling and crayoning, yet [and I really don’t know how to describe this, but to say that], I felt as though we were in perfect unity, perfect fellowship. Even though no words were spoken between us, we both knew we were quietly delighted in each other’s company.
And I know you have experienced that, perhaps on a rainy Sunday afternoon by the fire, you reading a book, and maybe your children on the floor, busy about putting together a puzzle. Or maybe you and your spouse on a Saturday afternoon, him busy with a project at the kitchen table, and you sitting near him and flipping through a recipe book. Or perhaps you remember when you were a student, studying with a good friend in the college library. More than an hour or two might go by with hardly few words between you, yet you felt utterly delighted in each other’s company.
And guess what? So it is between a contented Christian and the Lord Jesus. There comes a time when you know the Lord so well, that you can be together in sweet fellowship with hardly a word spoken. I know I have experienced this at night, right before I go to sleep. I love to put on music and just lie there and enjoy the Lord. Sometimes the communion – the silent communion – between us is so tangible, and occasionally I just have to tell him how grateful I am that we are friends. The joy of the Lord is your strength, the Bible tells us. And sometimes that heaven-sent joy can be a quiet, yet very real exchange between you and Christ. An exchange in which few words are spoken, but you know, you just know without a doubt that you and your Savior are so glad about each other.
If you are a believer in right fellowship with Christ, you can go on throughout a busy day, and simply be conscious that everything you do is noticed by God and blessed by his grace. In such moments, you find that the joy of the Lord is simply the quiet bubbling of godly contentment in your heart, and you find that that is enough. If you are a believer in lively fellowship with Jesus, you can go through the day and just be aware that everything you do brings a smile to the face of your forever friend, as well as a sense of God’s nearness, pleasure and his approval. So today, I hope you find delight in the quiet company of Christ. Enjoy a little wordless worship of him, as well as his quiet pleasure in you. One more thing, Romans 12:7 says that, “When we serve, we should do it well.” Learn how to serve well by signing up as an intern with Joni and Friends. Get all the details at joniradio.org.
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