THE BELIEVERS’ LIVING BEING
TO LIVE CHRIST AND TO MAGNIFY CHRIST
Some may ask, does not the Bible also teach man to have all kinds of virtues? How can we say that God does not want us to do good? Should we not be meek and yielding? Should we not love our wives and submit to our husbands? Surely the Bible talks about all these things. But we must ask, what is the source of these expressions in life? What is the essence? Gold is yellow, and so is brass. Superficially, they look alike. But actually, their essences are very different. Man’s highest morality is like brass; it is not genuine. It is superficial and is like a tree without roots or water without a source. A Christian’s virtues are not superficial; they are not without root. The root of the Christian virtues is Christ. He is the Lord of heaven and earth and the God of all creation. He died for our sins and has resurrected. When we believe in Him with our heart and call on Him with our mouth, He enters into our spirit and enlivens our spirit. In this way we are regenerated. In addition to our human life, we have received the eternal and uncreated life of God. Thus we share the same life that Christ has and have the same living that He has. Now, this all-inclusive Christ lives in us. When we live Christ and magnify Him, all His human virtues are expressed in our living. Only such virtues are genuine, high, and noble, like gold.
May our eyes be opened to see that what God truly desires is for Christ to be life in us and to be lived out of us. The Christian living is one that lives Christ and magnifies Christ. Paul said in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." Through the death of Christ, we have died in Him. Now, through His resurrection Christ is living in us. God wants the "I" to be crucified in the death of Christ so that in His resurrection Christ may live in us and be the source and everything in our living. This is why Paul said, "As always, even now Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death; for to me to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:20b-21a).
A Christian’s living is one that lives Christ. It is not a matter of work, nor is it a matter of doing good. Christ is not only our life but also our living. We live Christ because Christ lives in us (Col. 3:4a; Gal. 2:20; John 14:19-20). Christ lives in us to be our life; we live Christ to be Christ’s living. The proper experience of Christ is to live Him. To live Christ is to magnify Christ in whatever circumstances we may be in. This is not a doctrine or a theory, but a reality.
(The Economy and Dispensing of God, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee)
