Devotion 2: Participation Award
“Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” Ephesians 5:19
Most believers will agree that gathering as the church should include fellowship. I could not think of a better verse in the Bible to illustrates what fellowship ought to look like other than Ephesians 5:19. Does it have to include addressing one another specifically in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs? Of course not. The Bible says, “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). By no means would it be wrong to address one another in this way, but I believe the lesson we should learn from this text is to be intentional about fellowship when we gather. We need to be doing it all in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God through Him for the wonderful blessing we have, including one another.
So, what does the word fellowship really mean? In the original language, this word (κοινωνία or koinonia) means participation. This is a critical part of the gathering as the church. We should not only be willing to genuinely connect with others, but actively participating in the life of the church and in the lives of the believers God has placed around us.
With this in mind, I would like to ask the question, “Would you rather receive a first-place trophy or a participation award?” The answer is simple for me – a first-place trophy, ten out of ten times. However, when I stop to think about why that is, the answer is clear: I like it when people are proud of me. I like when the hard work I put into something is noticed. There is nothing wrong with this, yet the church is the only place where receiving the participation award is greater than receiving the first-place trophy. More importantly, Christ is most proud when we are actively participating in each other’s lives, in a manner of love for His name’s sake.
May we keep the word “participation” at the forefront of our minds as we gather together as the church and remember in our hearts which award Christ desires to confer upon His beloved.