LIVING CHRIST BY LOVING HIM
As we are engaged in our daily activities, our living should not be those activities, but Christ. Our mind should be concentrated on Christ, but this concentration of our mind depends upon our love for Christ. This is why the New Testament charges us to love Christ (Mark 12:30; Rev. 2:4-5; John 14:23; 21:15-17; 1 Pet. 1:8). If we do not love Christ, we cannot live Him, and loving Him is the best way to concentrate our entire being on Him. When a young mother delivers a child, her whole living is that new baby. For her, to live is her new baby. This is because of her love for her child. When we love Christ to the uttermost, our entire being is occupied with Him, and we live Him. This was Paul’s experience; therefore, he said, “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). To Paul, to continue to live was Christ, and if he should die, it was gain.
Living Christ requires that we love Him to the uttermost. Sometimes when we have been very captivated by something, that night we would have a dream about that thing. Even in our dreams, for us to live was the thing that captivated us. Christ needs to captivate us to such an extent.
THE MIND SET ON THE SPIRIT BEING LIFE
Romans 8:6 says, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” In our practical Christian life, we must set our mind on the spirit. When we set our mind on the spirit, our mind is life. Life is God, Christ, and the Spirit. This life becomes real and practical to us when our mind is life. If our mind is not life, God and Christ as our life seem far away, and the Spirit is very objective to us. Christ is our life, but Christ as our life is practical to us when we set our mind on the spirit, and our mind is life. When our mind is set on the spirit, we have life.
THE MIND SET ON THE SPIRIT BEING TO ABIDE IN CHRIST
To set the mind on the spirit is also to abide in Christ. When we abide in Christ, the issue, the result, is fruit-bearing. If we do not bear fruit, our abiding is false. If a married couple desires to have children and after a number of years does not have any, they may go to a medical doctor to find out what is wrong. We should not be deceived. Our abiding in Christ should produce fruit. Christ today is the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17), so we can now abide in Him. To abide in Christ, taking Christ as the Spirit, is to set our mind on the mingled spirit, our regenerated spirit. This proper abiding in Christ will surely result in fruit-bearing. Everyone who enjoys Christ will be charged by the Lord to go (John 15:16)! We are charged to “go forth” which implies that we should go some distance. We should not stay home, but we must go forth to bear remaining fruit. This is the result of abiding in Christ which is a matter of setting our mind on the spirit.
(The Experience and Growth in Life, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
