LETTING CHRIST, WHO IS ALREADY IN US, GROW AND SPREAD OUT OF US
Today in His recovery the Lord truly desires to bring His church into revelation. We all need to see a revelation. All man-made cultivation and improvement belong to Confucianism, Buddhism, gnosticism, and asceticism. They are not what God wants. Our eyes must be opened by God to see that Christ has come into us to be our all. Christ, who is our all, is already in us. If you see this revelation, you will realize that in a sense even eating the Lord is not necessary. In response to this statement, some may say, “Oh, this is a hard word; who can hear it? Are we supposed to eat the Lord or not?” It is true that for the body to grow, it is necessary to eat. There is no doubt about this. The Bible, however, also reveals that the Lord has sown Himself into us. In Matthew 13 the Lord spoke the parable of the sower. Strictly speaking, since the seed that was sown into the soil contains all the riches of life, eating is not necessary. What the seed needs is the opportunity to develop in the soil.
Every seed contains all the riches of its life, and every kind of life has three characteristics: its substance, its function, and its form. Suppose there is an apricot tree that is blossoming and bearing fruit. Do I have to worry that the apricots may grow and eventually take the shape of bananas? Do I need to ask an expert to make some apricot molds to cover the tiny apricots so that they will grow into beautiful apricots? No one would be so foolish as to do such a thing. I should simply go home and sleep. The apricot life contains the apricot shape. If I let the apricot life grow, eventually the apricot shape will come forth. Likewise, when a puppy is born, you do not need to make a mold in the shape of a dog and place it over the puppy so that it will grow and take the shape of a dog. You just need to let the puppy grow, and it will grow into its own shape.
Romans chapter eight speaks of being conformed to the image of the Son of God (v. 29). In the past when I gave messages along this line, I often told people that we need the circumstances to shape us. I likened this to the sisters placing dough into a mold after it has been kneaded when they are baking cakes or cookies. After the dough is beaten, kneaded, and pressed, a form emerges. Today, with regret I retract such a wrong teaching. The image of Christ does not come by outward molding but by the growth of His life within us. Christ’s life has its substance and shape. Thus, if you let it grow in you, spontaneously the image of Christ will come forth. A peach tree will grow fruit bearing the shape of peaches, and an apricot tree will grow fruit bearing the shape of apricots. A cat will grow into the shape of a cat, and a dog will grow into the shape of a dog. Since the life in you is the life of Christ, regardless of how you grow, you will never grow into the likeness of the devil. The life in you is the life of Christ. It is possible to prevent it from growing, but the more you allow it to grow, the more it will grow Christ. The substance, function, and shape are the riches that are contained in a seed. The seed contains all the riches of life. From this perspective, we can say that what is needed today is not for us to eat, but for us to allow the seed to develop.
We need to see the revelation that the seed has been sown in us. We also need to see that God does not want us to do anything or try to grow anything. God’s intention is to sow Himself in His Son as a seed into us. He also wants the seed to grow out from us. This revelation is largely lacking in Christianity. Christianity as a whole has teachings concerning human conduct, asceticism, behavior improvement, and life in general, but it is short of revelation and does not see that these things are not what God wants. God’s desire is to come into us in His Son, to be developed in us, and to be our all. We all need to see this revelation. Today I have a burden upon me to show the churches that God’s chief desire is not that we would learn the lessons of the cross or receive the breaking of our flesh. His desire is not that we learn lessons and endure sufferings. Rather, His desire is to sow Christ into us that Christ may grow out from us.
(The Revelation of the Mystery, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee)
