Fellowshipping upward

You know how they say it's better to buy the cheapest house in a wealthy neighborhood than the nicest house in a crummy neighborhood? The cheap house is lifted up in value by being surrounded by houses of value.

I think we can apply a similar principle to Christian fellowship. Find a church to belong to where people believe in God more than you do; then your faith will grow. "Bad company corrupts good morals," said Paul (1 Corinthians 15:33). And "Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1).

Besides Jesus and Paul, I also seek contemporaries who have more faith than I. They do things like this:

They get you excited talking about Jesus even when you're not in church.

They fast when they really mean business.

They move into a new house in Texas and go through every room, dedicating it to the Lord. (Anointing oil may be used but is optional.)

They leave a lucrative profession in Virginia at age 35 to study in a seminary in Philadelphia, because they feel God's call to do that. (This can happen in reverse, too. Evan Roberts dropped seminary without a degree because he heard God calling him home during the Welsh Revival.)

They save a few Ritz crackers and some Mellow Yellow from chow to congregate on yard for an impromptu Communion service in a prison in Kinchelo, Michigan.

They believe that Revival is normal Christianity, and grieve that we're not in one now. (Martin Lloyd-Jones)

They obey a verse of the Bible that nobody else believes is for our times, because no one has ever satisfactorily explained to them why it is not.