THE BEAUTY OF THE CHURCH LIFE
This does not mean, however, that any should be dissenting. Although you may fight with someone, you should still love him because you are both in the same church. We love one another because we are in the same recovery, in the same testimony. Quite often I have surprised the elders in certain churches by telling them that there is no need for them to condemn certain things. Do not try to unify the church and make everyone the same. The old people are the old people, the young people are the young people, and the naughty ones are the naughty ones. No matter how hard you try, you can never make the girls into boys or the boys, girls. All boys will be naughty and all girls under the age of ten will be nice. The nicest children are girls under ten, and the naughtiest are boys under ten. But both the nice girls and the naughty boys are lovely. This is the beauty of a family. In the church life we must recognize the fact that we have the nice sisters and the naughty brothers. This is the beauty of the church life. As long as we maintain our oneness, we shall be harmonious and see the beauty, even when we are fighting. Although we are fighting, we are still harmonious. This may sound like a strange word, but it nonetheless is true. There is fighting, but no dissenting. We are for the one recovery, for the one testimony. No matter how much we fight, our fighting is for the good of the recovery.
DEALING WITH OPPOSERS
I would also like to say a word regarding dealing with those who oppose us. Do not consider any opposer a hopeless case. Rather, we should treat opposition as a golden opportunity. Every opposer is a good "fish." Because of this, we need to change our concept concerning the opposers.
Dealing with the opposers will expose our motive. If our intention is simply to convince people and to gain them for our work, our motive is not pure. Our motive must be solely for the living testimony of Jesus. Whether or not a particular opposer will take this way does not matter. Our responsibility is to seize the opportunity to make the Lord’s testimony clear to him. When we contact an opposer, we may have deep within us the intention to capture him. We need to forget about such an intention. We should be motivated, not by the desire for the increase of the local churches, but by the testimony of Jesus. We are not here for the increase of the local churches; we are for the bright, shining, strong, and aggressive testimony of Jesus. We do not care whether or not people come this way, agree with us, or follow us. We care only for the testimony of Jesus. We would never hide or conceal this testimony, but we would take every opportunity to manifest it to others. Often I hear the saints saying that certain ones are good material and that we should seek to gain them for the church. This exposes our motive. We are not here for this. To repeat, we are here to be a bright and shining testimony of Jesus. We must be able to shine and to present what we are enjoying to others. Whether or not they accept it is up to the Lord.
(The Spirit and the Body, Chapter 21, by Witness Lee)
