GOD BEING OUR GOD BY THE INNER LAW
Hebrews 8:10 says, “I will be God to them, and they will be a people to Me.” God is God to us according to the inner law, and we are the people of God according to this law. In the ancient times God was God to the people of Israel, and they were a people to Him, according to the Ten Commandments. Although David the king did many good things, he killed a man and took his wife. At that time God was not God to Him, and he was not a person of God, because he acted against the law of God. That was why he needed atonement and reconciliation to God. Without atonement it was not possible for him to be a person of God nor for God to be God to him. One had to be a person according to the law of God, and God was God to him according to His law. Today it is the same in principle. The living law within us gives us the sense to love our enemy, but we may not be willing to go along with it. Instead, we may try to do many good things for others. In this case we will not have a right relationship with God. We may say, “Others bring one person to the Lord in one year, but I have brought two persons just this month.” However, God may say, “I do not reckon that. I only reckon one thing—the inner law. I am God to you not according to all the good things you do but according to the inner law.” We have to be a people to God according to the inner law, and this inner law is the living God.
Again I say, Christianity today has missed the mark. What is the mark? It is that God Himself, the living Spirit within us, is the very law. God can be God to us and we a people to God only according to this law, not according to the good things we do. Suppose that the inner, living law within me energizes and moves in me, giving me the taste or the sense that I must humble myself before a brother because I offended him. This law may give me the sense, the consciousness, that I have to come to him and make a confession. However, I may not want to lose my face. Rather, I tell the Lord, “Lord, I will do many things for You. I will shine everyone’s shoes and clean the dining hall.” Regardless of how many good things I do, the Lord may say, “No, I only demand one thing. Go to the brother, bow your head, tell him that you are wrong, and ask him to forgive you.” Still I may say, “Lord, I will do anything, but not this.” This means that I am still doing good things but breaking the regulation of the inner law. Many, many times we act in this way. I know many stories like this. It is especially this way with some wives. For a wife to make a confession to her husband is not easy. She may do many things, but she would not say, “I’m wrong; excuse me.” God can be God to us only according to His law, and we can be a people to Him only according to this law.
Where is this law? It is in us. And what is this law? It is God Himself. He Himself is the living law. He is holy, righteous, of love, and in light. Therefore, whatever we do, speak, or think, and however we act or walk, must be one hundred percent in correspondence with the very God who not only is holy but holiness, who not only is righteous but righteousness, and who is love and light. If we do this, we will have a sweet taste; otherwise, we will have a bitter taste. It is a matter of taste, and this taste is the very regulating element of the inner law that is God Himself. The law, which is God Himself, is within us as our life, nature, taste, and regulating element.
HAVING NO NEED FOR OTHERS TO TEACH US
If we mean business and pay our full attention to this inner law, there is no need of teaching. We need a certain kind of teaching simply because we are not faithful and honest to this inner law. We do not pay our full attention to this inner law, so we need the teachings to help us. This is a poor situation. If we mean business and pay our full attention to this inner law, that will be glorious. Many times when people ask us a question, we point out, “Brother, you know the answer within yourself. There is no need for you to ask me. You know within.” Sometimes the brothers say, “Yes, I know, but I would like you to give me a confirmation.” To this I say, “Rather, I like to be confirmed by your inner feeling. I am not the confirmation; your inner sense is the confirmation. You know within.”
(Practical Lessons on the Experience of Life, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
