HOW TO WALK IN CHRIST
The verse we quoted (Col. 2:6) exhorts us to walk in Christ in the same way that we received Him. We need to be clear that Christ today is not just far away in the third heaven; He is now also the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45, Gk.), residing in our spirit. First Corinthians 6:17 tells us further that “he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” These two spirits— Christ, the life-giving Spirit, and our human spirit—are one spirit. To walk in Christ is to walk in this mingled spirit. It is a matter of heeding His life within us, not of receiving instruction on how to pray, how to preach the gospel, how to honor our parents, or how to submit to our husband or love our wife.
More than fifty years ago in far-off China the Lord granted us His gracious visitation to see that His real salvation is not a way but a living Person. When He comes into us to be our life, He is everything else we need as well—holiness, righteousness, humility, love, kindness, patience, endurance, and faithfulness. The day we saw the vision that everything we need is in this One marked the end of all our ways. He is God’s way (cf. John 14:6).
There is no need for us to strive or endeavor. Walk in Christ. In Him are both God and man; in Him dwells all the fullness of God. Because this all-inclusive One is in our spirit, we can walk in Him.
A DAILY PATTERN
Every morning, as soon as we get up, we should turn to the Lord and say, “Lord, thank You for another day that I may live You. Remind me this whole day to reject myself, not to trust in myself, and not to live by myself. Strengthen me to live by You. Make this a day for me to live You out, taking You as my everything, abiding in You as a branch in the vine.” All during the day this should be our prayer. Do not spend time praying so much for your job, your children, or your being kept from car accidents. The Lord takes care of all things. Just concern yourself with this one matter of walking in Him.
Because it is so easy to slip out of Christ and revert to living in ourselves, doing things by ourselves, saying things in ourselves, or loving others by ourselves, Paul exhorts us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). We need to be saved daily, even hourly, from anything outside of Christ. We must be in fear and trembling to work out our instant salvation, lest we say a word outside of Him, answer a question apart from Him, or react in our feelings rather than in Him.
THE WAY TO PREACH THE GOSPEL
The way to preach the gospel is to walk in Christ. Such a statement may seem abstract, because we are used to finding ways, or planning activities, to get things accomplished. Some of us may think that the way to preach the gospel is to use musical instruments or to have a quartet sing some gospel songs. There is also the way of eloquence, having a talented speaker give an entertaining message. It has even been said among us that the way to gain people is to go where they are; I have heard of some going to movies, bars, and ballet dances for the purpose of “catching fish.” All such proposals are ways. They are devoid of Christ.
To preach the gospel you must have Christ as your daily living. This living cannot fail to impress those who know you—your relatives, friends, classmates, colleagues, and others whom you see in the normal course of your day. It may be that during a year’s time, the Lord will move in the heart of one of them by means of some circumstance, and that one will be constrained to talk with you. With little effort on your part, perhaps just your suggestion that you pray together, that person will be saved. The next year there may be a colleague at the office who gets injured in a car accident; while he is hospitalized, he may recall your manner of life and send for you to come and talk with him. With few words, just a short prayer, he too may be saved. The following year still another may follow.
Because we live Christ, He is the way we preach the gospel. Do not have the opinion that this is a slow way to get the increase. If just one is saved per year through each of us, there will be a one hundred per cent increase. Further, those who are saved in this way will become the remaining fruit. Such will not be the case with those who are brought in through the use of gimmicks; most of them will not stay.
Surely the Lord was referring to our manner of life when He said, “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me” (Acts 1:8). We live as a witness, a testimony, to Him; this testimony will gradually bring others whom we know to know Him also.
This is not to say that the church should not have a regular gospel preaching time. Every so often a Saturday night, for example, can be set aside for this. Then we can pray to seek the Lord’s leading as to whom we should bring. Each of us may then bring in one or two. This is the proper preaching of the gospel with Christ as the way.
(Life Messages, Vol. 1 (#1-41), Chapter 20, by Witness Lee)
