THE WAY TO TAKE CHRIST AS LIFE
What is the way to take Christ as life? You have to be clear about several things before you can be clear about the way to take Christ as your life. First, you have to realize that today Christ is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b). Many Christians have the impression that the Holy Spirit is absolutely someone other than Christ. In fact, they have the impression that the Holy Spirit is just the power, the strength, of Christ. But the Holy Bible says that the Father is in the Son and the Son is the Spirit.
Today we have the Father in us (Eph. 4:6), Christ in us (2 Cor. 13:5), and the Holy Spirit in us (Rom. 8:9). So do we have three in us or one in us? Actually, the three-one God is in us. I was very young when I got saved, and the more I prayed to the Lord in heaven, the more I felt that He was within me. When I was young, I went to some elderly brothers and asked, "When we pray, what do we call Him? Do we call Him Lord or Father?" Some said it is better to call Him Father, others said it is better to call Him Lord, and still others said it is better to call Him Lord God the Father. Actually, They are one. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is the Spirit.
Second Corinthians 3:17 says, "The Lord is the Spirit." First Corinthians 15:45b says, "The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit." By these two verses we can realize that Christ is the Spirit. Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 6:17 tells us that "he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit." If Christ is not the Spirit, how can we be one spirit with Him? This very Spirit who is the Holy Spirit of God is now in our spirit to mingle with our spirit as one spirit. If we are going to take Christ as life, we have to know that Christ today is the Spirit and this Spirit is now mingled with our spirit as one spirit.
He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit, and the Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit (Rom. 8:16). These two spirits, the divine Spirit and our human spirit, cooperate together, work together, and mingle together as one spirit. The entire matter of taking Christ as our life hinges on the wonderful Spirit who is in our spirit. This is something wonderful that is beyond our comprehension. But what we are seeing here is something real and revealed in the Scripture. It is so wonderful that we have a wonderful mingled spirit, a spirit which is the mingling of the divine Spirit with the human spirit, the mingling of divinity with humanity.
We also must realize that the Spirit is life. The Lord told us that the words He speaks to us are spirit and are life (John 6:63). The Spirit is life, and Christ Himself is life. But how do you know that you have this Spirit as life within you? If you have this life within you, which is Christ Himself and also the Spirit of life, you have the fellowship of life. The current of electricity is a good illustration of the fellowship of life. When the electricity is working, there is the current of electricity. This electrical current is simply the electricity itself flowing. If you have the current of electricity, that means you have electricity itself flowing and working. What is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit? What is the fellowship of life? That is the current, the flowing, of life within you.
We can also use blood as an illustration. We have blood within us and the circulation of blood. What is the circulation of blood? It is the blood itself circulating, flowing. If you have blood without circulation, that means you are dead. How do you know you are living? Because something is circulating, flowing, in you. How do you know that you have Christ as the Spirit within you as life? Because you have something within you flowing all the time. There is a current within. A stream, a current, is flowing within you. This is the fellowship.
(The Life and Way for the Practice of the Church Life, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
