CHRIST MAKING HIS HOME IN OUR HEARTS
The Bible tells us that God is working in us and that Christ is living in us. However, the Bible uses a very striking term—build—to denote God’s work in us. In Ephesians 3:16-17 Paul prayed to the Father, saying, "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith." To be sure, Christ’s making His home in our hearts involves building. If we would make a home, we must first build a house. To make a home implies being settled in a particular place. However, if we would be settled, we must have a house. The words "that Christ may make His home" are a strong indication that He is doing a work of building in us. Christ is building a home in our inner being.
THE MATERIALS FOR THE BUILDING
Divinity and Humanity
In building a house, it is necessary to have the proper material. When God created the universe, He did not use any material; He created simply by His speaking. For instance, He said, "Let there be light," and there was light. However, in order to build a home in us, Christ must have the material. On the one hand, this material is Christ Himself as the element; on the other hand, this material includes something from us with our humanity.
Another verse that speaks of the Triune God doing a building work in us is John 14:23. Here the Lord Jesus says, "If anyone loves Me,..My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him." The words "make an abode" in this verse equal "make His home" in Ephesians 3:17. The Triune God has come into us to do a building work with Himself as the element and also with something from us as the material. The word concerning building in these verses implies that God’s building Himself in Christ into us has very much to do with what we are.
The Seed and the Soil with Its Nutrients
This is illustrated by the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. The seed is sown into the soil to grow with the nutrients in the soil. This seed, therefore, does not grow just with itself; it grows with itself and the nutrients in the soil. As a result, the produce is a composition of elements from both the seed and the soil. Here we see an important spiritual principle. In order to grow, the seed must be sown into good soil. If the seed were sown into sand or among stones, it would not grow, because neither sand nor stone can supply the necessary nutrients.
In Matthew 13 the seed is divinity, and the soil with its nutrients is humanity. We have within us certain nutrients created by God as a preparation for His coming into us to grow in us. God has created the human spirit with the human nutrients. For this reason, human beings can believe in the Lord and receive Him.
The seed that has been sown into us is Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God. The rate at which the seed grows within us depends on the nutrients afforded by us. The more nutrients we supply, the faster the seed will grow and the more it will flourish.
According to the Bible, growth equals building. The Lord Jesus declared, "I will build My church" (Matt. 16:18). This building takes place by the growth of the divine seed within us.
The Triune God, the source of life, has sown Himself in Christ as a seed into our being. Once this seed comes into us, it meets something within us—our spiritual nutrients—and it begins to grow. The degree of growth depends not on the divine seed but on how many nutrients we afford this seed. Matthew 13 indicates that only the good soil (vv. 8, 23) affords the adequate nutrients for the growth of the divine seed.
(Life-Study of 1 & 2 Samuel, Chapter 30, by Witness Lee)
