Recorded in the Gospel of John, our Lord made seven statements referring to Himself as I AM…

I AM The Light of the World
I AM The Bread of Life
I AM The Door
I AM The Good Shepherd
I AM The True Vine
I AM The Way, The Truth, and The Life
I AM The Resurrection and The Life

Each week during this season of Lent, here on the Seeking Him blog, we will be focusing our devotionals on a different aspect of Jesus’ revelation of Himself as I AM.  The aim of Lent should be to prepare our hearts for the remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice—His trial and torture, the Crucifixion and His death…and above all, the celebration of His Resurrection from the dead.  We pray that this will be a great encouragement to each of you who read them.  And that all of us will consider the significance of Jesus’ words and, through them, be helped as we remember and are thankful for all Jesus went through during the last few weeks of His life on this earth.

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I AM the Vine; you are the branches.
If a man remains in Me and I in him,
he will bear much fruit;
apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15:5

Listening to K-LOVE as I drove home from work yesterday, something sparked a conversation with God about the difference between relationship and fellowship with the Lord. I felt I was being told that I should write about this for my devotional…to which I promptly responded that I didn’t know what the topic is this week, but I’d see if it fit in.  Silly me, right?  (If the Holy Spirit tells you to do something, I do believe He knows what He is talking about.)

The conversation continued.  I pondered the difference between relationship and fellowship.  Relationship, although very basic, is a distinguishing factor of Christianity.  (Without a dictionary in hand) I concluded that it is possible to have a relationship with someone, but not be in fellowship with them. And it seems very unlikely, if even at all possible, to be in fellowship with someone and not have a relationship with them.

But now, I have my NLT dictionary/concordance handy and have the proper definitions:

• Relationship (n): a state of affairs existing between those having relations or dealings
• Fellowship (n): friendship; association; company; partnership

I was surprised at how few references to these words there were in the NLT, but then I got to thinking.  The Bible in its entirety gives us instructions on how to have a proper relationship with God and others. It gives us information on how God loves us, about His character, and His ultimate plan.  All of this ties into our relationship with God.

You can have a relationship with just about anyone.  You have a relationship with your boss at work, your coworkers, the cashier that scans your groceries every week, the women in your bible study…,etc. The list is never ending. (We would likely refer to most of these people as acquaintances.) However, you likely do not have fellowship with all those people. You CAN, but odds are you don’t. Fellowship is far more deliberate than relationship; it doesn’t just happen without effort.

Jesus made it simple for us. He said,
“I AM the Vine; you are the branches.
If a man remains in Me and I in him [fellowship],
he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15:5 emphasis mine

Stay connected to Jesus (via the word, prayer, etc.) and this will be evident in your life. We have to have our Life Source in order to do anything productive. We need more than just a mere relationship…we have to have that fellowship…that DEEP connection.

So, take a look at your relationship with God…
Are you in a relationship only? Or is there fellowship?

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Lord, help me to maintain fellowship with You.  You are my Life Source and I need You for everything that I do.  Amen.