Christ as the reality of the burnt offering lived in this world a life of God as love, and He’s now our life that we may do the same; when we activate the law of love, we love one another with God as love, love is perfected in us, and we bear one another burdens in love. Amen!
The Lord Jesus as the first God-man lived a God-man life, a life that was fully for God, absolutely for Him and for His satisfaction.
Man wondered at this One, for what they saw was a man, yet this man lived out the bountiful God whom He expressed through His aromatic human virtues.
We see this at least in two cases, one being with the immoral woman in Samaria.
When Christ as the God-man Savior wanted to save an immoral woman of Samaria, He had to travel from Judea to Galilee through Samaria, and He detoured from the main way of Samaria to the city of Sychar.
There, He waited at the well of Jacob, near Sychar, for His object to come so that He might cherish her by asking her to give Him something to drink so that He might nourish her with the water of life, which is the flowing Triune God Himself (John 4:3-14).
In a wonderful yet mysterious way, the thirsty Savior detoured from His way and waited for the disciples to bring food and water from the village, while actually waiting for the immoral Samaritan woman to give her to drink the living water.
When she came, He asked her to give Him some water and, when she opened to Him, He gave her to drink of the living water.
His work was His living, His ministry was His very being, and He simply spoke the word of God to minister life to this woman.
He allowed God to flow to this one, who was thirsty for the real water, the living water.
Then, in John 8:3-11, 24, 34-36 we see the case of the woman caught in adultery, who was brought to him by the Jews and was accused by the Pharisees.
Christ as the God-Savior did not condemn her; rather, He cherished her in His humanity and said, “Neither do I condemn you,” and He nourished her when He said, “go and sin no more.”
He not only did not condemn her but even more, He as the great I am nourished her with the freedom from sin and enabled her to sin no more. What a Christ!
He loved others not just with the human love but with God as love, and He expressed God as love through all that He did.
Yet the love He expressed was so divine and human, divine and mystical, that He did not only forgive others but even more, cherished them in His humanity and nourished them in His divinity so that they may drink the living water, be forgiven of their sins, and sin no more.
He is our pattern. We need to eat this One and live because of Him. He needs to live in us and be expressed through us in our daily living.
He wants to do this. He is willing to just live in us, if we just turn to Him, talk to Him, open to Him, and let Him live in us as we take Him as our life and everything.
Abide in God as Love to Live a Life of Love like the Lord Jesus did
![And we know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. In this has love been perfected with us, that we may have boldness in the day of the judgment because even as He is, [so] also are we in this world. 1 John 4:16-17](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/And-we-know-and-have-believed-the-love-which-God-has-in-us-3-683x1024.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "And we know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. In this has love been perfected with us, that we may have boldness in the day of the judgment because even as He is, [so] also are we in this world. 1 John 4:16-17")
One outstanding characteristic of the Lord’s living on earth, the first God-man’s living, was that He lived a life of love; He was the embodiment of God as love, and He loved man and loved God.
He didn’t just tell us to love God and love one another; He lived such a life of love.
When we abide in the love that is God Himself, love has been perfected in us, so that we may have boldness in the day of the judgment because even as He is, so also are we in this world (1 John 4:16-17).
We know and have believed the love which God has in us; God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in Him.
Christ as the reality of the burnt offering lived in this world a life of God as love, and He is now our life so that we may live the same life of love in this world and be the same as He is (3:14; 5:1; 2:6).
Even as He lived in this world so do we today; we abide in God as love, we activate the law of love, and we live a life of love even as the Lord Jesus did.
To abide in God is to live a life which is God Himself as our inward content and outward expression so that we may be absolutely one with Him.
God abides in us to be our life inwardly and our living outwardly.
We do not just abide in God and nothing happens; when we abide in Him as love, we activate the law of love and we express God as love in our daily living.
When we say that we abide in God, this means that the very love in which we abide is God Himself.
The love we have toward others should not be our own love but God as love.
And we have love by abiding in God as love; when we abide in God, God abides in us, and we live a life of love, loving God and loving others.
Love is being perfected in us as we abide in God as love; the love of God is perfected in us, that is, it is perfectly manifested in us so that we may have boldness without fear on the day of judgment (1 John 4:18).
May we be before the Lord day by day, even moment by moment, to abide in Him as love so that the love of God may be perfected in us and we may live a life of love even as the Lord Jesus did.
Christ lived in this world a life of God as love, and He is now our life so that we may do the same.
Today we can live a life of God as love, for Christ is our life.
When we take Christ as our life and live Him out by abiding in God as love, we live the same life of love in this world to be the same as He is.
This is not something that we do deliberately, something that we work on to be perfected by our own effort; it is something spontaneous, something that we do automatically as we abide in God as love.
Even as the Lord was on this earth, so we are today in the world; He lived a life of loving God and man, and we have Him as our life to live a life of love as He did.
Christ as the reality of the burnt offering lives in us to enable us to live the same kind of life on the earth.
His love is being perfected in us today so that we may live a life of love even as He did.
When we take Christ as our life and live because of Him, He can live in us the life of the burnt offering so that we may live the same life of love and be the same as He is.
Lord Jesus, we want to abide in God so that God may abide in us. We want to abide in the love that is God Himself so that the love of God may be perfected in us. Amen, Lord, keep us abiding in God as love today so that we may live a life of love, even as You did when You were on the earth. We acknowledge that in ourselves, in our natural man, we cannot love all men neither do we have love for God. We come to You, Lord, and we want to abide in You as love. We take You as our life. We take You as our burnt offering and we allow You to live a life of love on earth, a repetition of the life that You lived while on the earth. Oh Lord, You lived in this world a life of God as love, and now You are our life! Amen, we want to live the same life of love as You did! Save us from merely trying to love others or love God in ourselves; keep us abiding in God as love so that we may spontaneously express God as love through us!
Activate the Law of Love to Bear one another’s Burdens and Care for the Weak
The law of the Spirit of life in our spirit is the law of Christ as the law of love (Rom. 8:2; Gal. 6:2-3).
The law of love must be substantiated by the law of the Spirit of life so that we may be able to bear one another’s burdens.
If we are filled with pride, however, we will be unable to bear others’ burdens because we deceive ourselves by thinking that we are something when we’re nothing. Amen!
What is the law of Christ referred to in Gal. 6:2? Some expositors of the Bible say that it refers to the Lord’s commandment that we love one another, and this is correct.
However, we need to realize that the law of Christ is the higher and better law of life which works through love (Rom. 8:2; John 13:34).
All believers in Christ have been regenerated by God with His life, and the life of God has a law, the law of the Spirit of life.
When we activate the law of the Spirit of life by being in Christ, the divine life is expressed through us, and real love issues; spontaneously, we live a life of love.
The love that the Bible speaks of is not our human love or an uplifted or improved human love; it is the divine life being expressed through our virtue of love to uplift it and enrich it so that God as love is expressed through us as love.
The love Paul speaks of in 1 Cor. 13 is the expression of the divine life.
Gal. 5:22 says that love is one of the fruits of the Spirit; this indicates that the substance of love must be the Spirit.
We human beings have the virtue of love, and sometimes we love others but most times we love ourselves and those who love us.
Our human love is limited, spoiled, and spoiling; our natural human love runs out.
But we as believers in Christ have the divine life in our spirit, and when we activate the law of love, we can live a life of love as the expression of the divine life in us.
We substantiate the law of Christ, which is the law of love, by the divine life.
When the law of love is activated within us, we automatically and spontaneously will be shepherds who have the loving and forgiving heart of our Father God and the shepherding and seeking spirit of our Savior Christ (John 21:15-17; Luke 15:3-7).
When we activate the law of love, we will shepherd others according to God and with His heart, and we seek them and care for them with the seeking spirit of our Lord.
When the law of love is activated within us, our labor in the Lord is a labor of love (1 Cor. 15:58; 1 Thes. 1:3); we will not just try to do a work for the Lord, but we will have a labor of love toward Him and toward the church.
Our labor of love is to support the weak (Acts 20:35) and sustain the weak (1 Thes. 5:14).
The weak refers to those who are weak either in their spirit or soul or body, or are weak in faith (Rom. 14:1; 15:1).
We may think we are not weak but actually we all are weak; some of us may have a hard time to show it or allow others that we have a need.
We all are the weak ones; we take turns in being weak. So we need to activate the law of love in our spirit and learn to bear the weaknesses of those who are weak.
![In Galatians 6:3 Paul says, “For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”…Those who think of themselves as something will not bear the burdens of others. Only those who do not regard themselves as anything will bear others’ burdens. From experience [Paul] realized that it is when we consider ourselves as nothing that we spontaneously, even unconsciously, bear the burdens of others. We do not place a high estimate on what we do…Walking by the Spirit, we are led of the Spirit to do certain things. The result is that we bear someone’s burden without even realizing it. Life-study of Galatians, pp. 255-257, by Witness Lee](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/In-Galatians-63-Paul-says-For-if-anyone-thinks-he-is-something-when-he-is-nothing-he-deceives-himself-683x1024.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "In Galatians 6:3 Paul says, “For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”…Those who think of themselves as something will not bear the burdens of others. Only those who do not regard themselves as anything will bear others’ burdens. From experience [Paul] realized that it is when we consider ourselves as nothing that we spontaneously, even unconsciously, bear the burdens of others. We do not place a high estimate on what we do…Walking by the Spirit, we are led of the Spirit to do certain things. The result is that we bear someone’s burden without even realizing it. Life-study of Galatians, pp. 255-257, by Witness Lee")
Gal. 6:3 says that, if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
If we think that we’re something and therefore we don’t have to bear others’ burdens, we really are nothing.
But if we regard ourselves as being nothing, we will bear others’ burdens, for we will live a life of love.
May the Lord have mercy on us so that we may realize how weak we are and how much we need to the Lord and also others’ shepherding and care!
May we learn to open to the Lord and to the saints to receive help in so many ways so that we may go on with the Lord.
May we realize that we are nothing and can do nothing without the Lord; may we exercise our spirit and activate the law of love so that we may bear the burdens of others.
After His resurrection, the Lord shepherded Peter and commissioned him to feed His lambs and shepherd His sheep (John 21:15-17).
In this way, He incorporated the apostolic ministry with Christ’s heavenly ministry to take care of God’s flock, the church, which issues in the building up of the Body of Christ to consummate in the New Jerusalem for the accomplishment of the eternal economy of God.
The issue of a life of experiencing Christ in His experiences as the burnt offering is that, on one hand, we live a life absolute for God and, on the other hand, we bear one another’s burdens and we shepherd one another, living a life of love in the church life.
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into us to be our life. We exercise our spirit to activate the law of the Spirit of life so that we may live a life of love, even as You did when You were on the earth. Amen, Lord, we want to activate the law of love by abiding in You as love and by allowing You to express Yourself as love. Save us from thinking we are someone when we are actually nothing and no one. Oh Lord, may we realize how weak we are and how much we need the Lord and the saints! May we regard ourselves as nothing and be willing to bear one another’s burdens in the church life. Thank You, dear Lord, for bearing our burdens; You are our burden-bearer-Savior. We want to walk by the Spirit and be led of the Spirit in the church life and in our Christian life. Amen, Lord, may our labor be a labor of love in which we support the weak and sustain the weak!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ricky Acosta in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Galatians, msg. 29 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery Before His Appearing (2023 July Semiannual Training), week 5, entitled, The God-man Living.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– Being Absolute to the Balanced One, article via, Living to Him.
– Activating the law of life, a portion from, God’s Eternal Intention and Satan’s Counterplot, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
– Living in the Mingled Spirit, The Secret of the Christian Life, article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– The Law of the Spirit of Life, a free booklet via LSM. God’s salvation is not only a salvation from sin but also a salvation in His divine life. For this reason, the New Testament speaks of being saved in life, walking in newness of life, and even reigning in the life of God.
– Living by the Law of Life – a video via Youtube.
– The Experience of Life: Consecration, article by Witness Lee in Affirmation and Critique. - Hymns on this topic:
– How sweet, how heav’nly is the sight, / When those who love the Lord / In one another’s peace delight, / And so fulfill His Word: / When each can feel his brother’s sigh, / And with him bear a part; / When sorrow flows from eye to eye, / And joy from heart to heart; / When, free from envy, scorn and pride, / Our wishes all above, / Each can his brother’s failings hide, / And show a brother’s love. (Hymns #857 stanzas 1-3)
– Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord, / Oh, to be lost in Thee, / Oh, that it may be no more I, / But Christ that lives in me. / Not I, but Christ to gently soothe in sorrow, / Not I, but Christ to wipe the falling tear; / Not I, but Christ to lift the weary burden, / Not I, but Christ to hush away all fear. (Hymns #591 stanza 2 and chorus)
– Blest be the tie that binds / Our hearts in Christian love; / The fellowship our spirit finds / Is like to that above. / Before our Father’s throne, / We pour our ardent prayers; / Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one— / Our comforts and our cares. / We share our mutual woes; / Our mutual burdens bear; / And often for each other flows / The sympathizing tear. (Hymns #860 stanzas 1-3)
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Life-study of Galatians, pp. 255-257, by Witness Lee
When we abide in the love that is God Himself, love has been perfected in us.
Christ as the reality of the burnt offering lived in this world a life as God as love, and He is now our life so that we may live the same life of love in this world and be the same as He is.
Amen brother I enjoyed that we are far above all thing as seen in Eph 1:18-22 because we have this surpassing power in us!
Hallelujah there is no weakness in us and we can boldly declare that all things are under our feet as Christ as the power dwells in us!
Dear brother, for the God-man living we abide in God and He abides in us.
Since God is love, when we abide in Him we also love others according to the law of the Spirit of life, through which we bear the burdens of others, supporting and sustaining those who may be weak in body, soul or spirit.
The issue of the God-man living is that we shepherd others according to God for the building up of the Body, to consummate in the New Jerusalem.
Amen. Lord live Yourself Lord through me as love!
Amen Lord live this life of a satisfying fragrance to God ✨
Yes brother, even as Jesus is, so also can we be in this world.
To abide in God is to live a life which is God Himself as our inward content & outward expression.
Jesus lived a life of God as love, and now He is our life so that we may live the same life of love in human society and in the church life.
The substance of the divine love is the Spirit who is the reality of everything that Christ is to us.
Therefore, when we walk by the Spirit we can spontaneously express the fruit of the Spirit.
In this has love been perfected with us, that we may have boldness in the day of the judgment because even as He is, so also are we in this world. 1 John 4:17
Wow brother how marvelous that God is love. And that God is in us as love. Christ as the son of God was given because God so loved the world (the fallen people).
He lived such a God-men life that expressed and manifested God as love.
He loved us and gave Himself up for us!
Now I understand this line in Hymn 546 ‘for by thy love I live’. To live Christ is to live a life the expresses God Himself as love.
So when Paul said in 1Cor that we should pursue love, he meant that we should seek the growth in the divine life. As we grow in life the love of God is perfected in us. Hallelujah!
Listen to the audio version of this article via,
Praise the Lord! 😃🙋🏽🙏 Amen!
God is love. It seems so simple. But His love differs greatly from our love. If I busy myself with the issuing and receiving of human love, I.e. affections, admirations, infatuations, adulation etc. I leave little room for God’s love to operate. But if I am nothing, dead to my puny accomplishments and evaluations, dead to rejections, fears of rejection, requirements of acknowledgement or respect or reciprocity (our due payments for qualified love) then God will actually have something to work with, ironically. It is only through being truly nothing that God can add Himself to make us truly something, which is His very self. That is love.
May we all pray our way to this nothingness each day. Lay all our somethingness at His feet every morning. May we too, pray for each other that we can all experience this… for if we are unburdened of our “self” and all it’s luggage, it will not only be easier to bare the burdens of others, but an absolute delight to do so.
I enjoy hymn 900, oh to be nothing, nothing.
Blessings all, in His love.