Living Christ (2)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bible Verses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phil. 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ...
Eph. 4:15 But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into
Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words of Ministry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Part 2 of 3)
To live Christ is not merely to have a holy life or to live
holiness. To live Christ is to live a person. We admit that
the expression "live Christ" is new. We use this term
deliberately. We should simply live Christ. We should live a
life which is Christ Himself. From my experience I can
testify that the most difficult thing in our Christian life
is to practice to live Christ. We may be "holy," "spiritual,"
and "victorious" without living Christ. Even though we may be
"holy," "spiritual," and "victorious," we are still the ones
living our natural life. We are not living Christ.
By nature, I am a quick person. When my sister heard that I
had turned to the Lord, she was happy and wanted to help me.
In particular, she tried to help me with my natural
quickness. She would not rebuke me or correct me. Instead,
she would tell me about others who were slow in their speech
and behavior. Realizing what she was trying to do, I told the
Lord that I regretted my quickness and asked Him to enable me
to slow down. But my behavior was like that of a monkey
imitating a human being. Although I could deliberately be
slow for a few days, eventually I reverted to my natural
quickness. Because I had been born a quick person, I just
could not make myself slow down. At the time my sister tried
to help me, she was teaching me to be slow. But she did not
help me to live Christ. Now, more than fifty years later, I
can be slow and patient. I can also control my temper. In a
sense, I can be holy, spiritual, and victorious. But I have
come to see that it is possible to do all this without living
Christ.
In order to live Christ we must take Him as our person and as
our life. Although I have made progress in this matter, I
admit that still my practice is not very successful. Almost
every morning I pray, "Lord, I thank You for another day to
practice living You. Lord, in myself, I cannot do this. I ask
You to remind me to live You and grant me the grace I need
for this." I have found, however, that soon after praying to
the Lord in this way, I may go back to living myself instead
of living Christ. Everything about my living may be good, and
yet I may not live Christ. I do not yet have the assurance to
testify with Paul, "To me to live is Christ."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible
and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of
Philippians, pp. 51-52 Both are published by Living Stream.
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Time Completed: 11:09 PM
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Message Date: 02/04/2009
