BEING LED TO BE CONSTITUTED WITH THE NATURE OF GOD
In reality, what we consider great things are small things before God. What kind of great things do we have? Our stature is about six feet at most. The great things in our lives are small things in God’s eyes. Nevertheless, God desires that we inquire of Him even in the smallest things. For example, humanly speaking, we do not like for our children to do things without our knowledge. Even in trivial things such as eating an apple or a piece of cracker, we like for them to tell us. Parents are not happy if their child is so capable in doing everything that he does not need them all day long. Bosses dislike to be troubled by their employees; parents, however, are not bothered by children continually coming to them. When one child comes to let his parents know that he wants an apple and another child comes to tell them that he wants to play ball, how satisfied the parents are! Therefore, a Christian should not just pray every day. Rather, he should pray and fellowship with the Lord every moment of the day. For example, before you set out to go to Kaoshiung, you have to ask God, “O God, I want to go to Kaoshiung; what do You think about this?” After you have prayed and have sensed the peace to go, you should inquire again as to which day you should go. Once you are clear about the day, you should inquire further, “Lord, which scheduled train should I take?” God is not afraid to be bothered by us, so we should feel free to seek Him. In this way, not only are we blessed in the matter for which we inquire, but through our seeking we also have more fellowship with God and, consequently, we are filled with God’s nature.
I used to go to Peiping (Beijing), where there was a brother who was born in a certain place in South America that had been under the rule of the British people. Outwardly that brother looked just like us, having the same skin color and eye color as we have, but his temperament was the temperament of an Englishman, and he also spoke like an Englishman. He was a very good friend of mine, so I used to stay with him whenever I visited Peiping. Once I told him, “You are evidently a Chinese, but your temperament is totally the temperament of a foreigner.” Why is it that he as a Chinese behaved like an Englishman? It is because from the day he was born, his daily contacts were with Englishmen. Therefore, he had been infused with the British nature and temperament. This shows us why Christians must always pray. Through our constant inquiring before God, we are being constituted with His nature and elements.
After we are saved in the Lord, God desires that we would be filled by Him and be like Him, so that His nature, life, and elements will be constituted into us. One thing is certain and clear: If a person decides every matter according to his own discernment, handles every matter according to his own methods, and makes every choice according to his own preference, then when people touch him, they can only sense that he is a capable person, a person with great decisiveness. They cannot sense the flavor and presence of God in him. Conversely, if a person inquires before God concerning everything, then spontaneously God’s view becomes his view, God’s nature becomes his nature, and God’s elements become his elements. For example, if we see a person regularly and are constantly in contact with him, unconsciously we become somewhat like him. A husband and wife are the best example; after they have been married a long time, they begin increasingly to look alike.
In 1934 a young brother in Tientsin who was learning to serve the Lord was always by my side helping me. One year he went to Shanghai. After he gave the first message, many were astonished at how his intonation and gestures were exactly like mine. When we are with someone every day in an intimate way—we may even be living with him—his disposition and intonation spontaneously become our disposition and intonation. Similarly, if a Christian constantly seeks after God and has fellowship with God, then God’s nature will spontaneously become his. If a Christian seeks God only to be prosperous or successful, that is a small matter. But if we believe that the purpose of Christians living on earth is merely for success and blessings, this is to not esteem the salvation of God highly. Christians should not care about having a successful career or a prosperous way. Rather, they should care only about their fellowship with God. If a Christian maintains a fellowship with God that is increasingly intimate and deep, he will be able to bring salvation to others even to the extent that he will become a blessing to people. Wherever he goes, God’s salvation also goes there to reach everyone through him. He does not care about the success and fortune of people. He simply cares that the salvation of God has a way to go out through him. Such a Christian is a weighty Christian.
It is not possible, however, to be such a Christian by imitation and affectation. Similarly, there is no way for that Christian brother who was born and raised in South America to act Chinese because he has been with English people from his youth and has gradually been constituted with the nature of an Englishman. If we have fellowship with God daily, the nature and elements of God will spontaneously be constituted into our being. Accordingly, the salvation of God and the blessings of God can be dispensed to others through us. This is why we should draw near to God, pray, and be led by God so that the elements of God can be constituted into us.
(The Pursuit of a Christian, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee)
