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.
[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 Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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