CHRIST ALL AND IN ALL
In Colossians 3:4 Christ is called “our life.” This mystery of God, the body of all positive things, is to be our life. In the new man “there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all” (v. 11). In the new man there is no room for you or me. Christ is all; He is each one of us. The only person in the new man is Christ.
THE WORD OF CHRIST
How can we contact Christ? In this book of Colossians Paul does not deal with the matter of the Spirit. After revealing Christ as the mystery of God, as the body of all positive things, and as all in all to the new man, Paul exhorts the Colossians, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (3:16). The thought in this verse is that the word of Christ should have a house, or dwelling place, in us, “in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.”
The word of Christ! This is what we must take in, but not as knowledge. Christ said in John 6:63, “The words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life.” We must take this word in as life.
We must also take the Word in “by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit” (Eph. 6:17-18).
God wants you to take Him as your life. He wants you to live by Him. Forget your culture, your philosophy, your ethics, and your spiritual seeking. Live by Christ! When you see this as a vision, you will condemn even your best virtues. You will fear your virtues more than your sins. You will realize that expressing your virtues is a rebellion against God’s administration. You will not sanction anything but Christ. You will have no way but this narrow way of Christ.
This is the testimony, Christ Himself. Spending time in the Word is not the testimony. Nor is fellowship. Even the church life without Christ is not the testimony. Only Christ living in us and lived out of us is the testimony.
(Life Messages, Vol. 2 (#42-75), Chapter 10, by Witness Lee)
