FOR TO ME TO LIVE BEING CHRIST
We have been joined and mingled with Christ in life. Our living is one of two lives mingled as one life and two spirits mingled as one spirit. The burden of responsibility for this living is not on the Lord but on us. When we speak and walk, is it the Lord who is the Lord, or are we the lord? Christ is already living in us. Whether or not we feel it, He is definitely living in us. Furthermore, we are joined to Him and mingled with Him. For this reason, we Christians should not make up our minds to do anything. We may think that since the Lord has told us to overcome, we must therefore try to overcome, or that since the Lord has told us to be holy, we must therefore try to be holy. It does not mean this at all. Never try to be repentant by yourself and then try to make up your mind by yourself. This is wrong. It will isolate you from your union with the Lord. This is like electricity. When the power source is cut off, electricity will not pass through anything. When we make up our mind, we are trying to do good by ourselves. Paul mentioned this in a clear way in Romans 7. He said, "For to will is present with me, but to do the good is not. For the good which I will, I do not; but the evil I do not will, this I practice. But if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that do it but sin that dwells in me" (vv. 18-20). Sin lives in our flesh. Sin is the evil life and nature of Satan. When it is dormant in us, it is merely sin. But when it is awakened by a will to do good, it becomes evil. As soon as we make up our mind to do good, we bring in the conflict between the good in the mind and the evil in the flesh. This is what the Chinese philosophers described as the war between reason and lust. In the end, we completely fail and are made a captive of sin (vv. 23-24).
Hence, we must be delivered from this kind of conflict. We should not enter the battle between the flesh and the mind. Rather, we should simply live in our regenerated spirit, reject our natural being, ignore our flesh, and give up the thoughts of doing good. Instead, we should turn and remain in our spirit. At times it is not so easy to remain in the spirit. At these times, we can sing, pray, or testify. This will help us to live in the spirit. In this way, the Lord will gain the ground to be the lord within us. Spontaneously, we will be led of Him to follow Him. Whenever He initiates something, we follow. We move in oneness with Him, and in this way we live Him out. This is what it means for us to say, "For to me to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21a). It is not Christ Himself alone who lives, but we live Him out through our cooperation with Him and through His union and mingling with us.
CHRIST MAKING HOME IN OUR HEARTS
THAT WE MAY BE FILLED
UNTO ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD
According to the requirement of the New Testament, Christ not only wants to live in us, He also wants to make home in our hearts (Eph. 3:17). To make home is different than to be a guest. To make home is to make an arrangement in every room of the house and to live there. Christ is not only living in our spirit. He wants to make home in every part of our heart. In everything and at every time, the Lord wants to do something and to speak something in our whole being, including our mind, emotion, will, and conscience, until these four parts of our heart become fully occupied and filled by Him. In this way, He makes His home in us.
When Christ makes home in our heart in this way, every part of our heart—our mind, emotion, will, and conscience—will have Him as the Lord; we will no longer be the lord. In this way, we will receive His leading. We will be led of Him and will move according to Him. We cooperate with Him to have a joined and mingled living. In this way, our move becomes His move; our speaking becomes His speaking; our work becomes His work. This is Christ making home in our hearts. It is also our growth in life. By Christ making home in our hearts, we will be filled unto all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19).
(The Vision of the Divine Dispensing and Guidelines for the Practice of the New Way, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee)
