As believers in Christ, we need to present our body to Him to be full-timers, those who live to Him and who give themselves with all they are and have to Him.
God can do so much, but He is waiting for the willing cooperation of His people; He needs some who are willingly giving themselves to Him.
He doesn’t need our help or our money; He needs us. He has something in mind to do, and He has an eternal purpose working throughout the ages.
But who will answer God’s call and simply lives to the Lord? The Lord can work only in and through those who open to Him.
Actually, we human beings were created to live to the Lord and not to ourselves; we were created to live Christ and express God.
By our very creation, by our makeup and interior constitution and being, we were made in a very specific way: we were made to contain God, be filled with God, be saturated with God, and express God.
But through the fall, we were usurped by Satan, who illegally occupies us and tries to fill us with all kinds of things.
In particular, Satan wants to usurp us all with money; as we grow up in the society today, we realize the need to have money, and we see how many things we can have and do if we have money.
It is in our nature that we desire to have more money and that we quantify everything on how much it costs.
When we are regenerated by the Lord, however, we enter into a new kingdom, the kingdom of God, and there’s no money in this kingdom; rather, the things of the kingdom of God are the real treasure.
Money cannot satisfy us, and the riches of this world with all its wealth can never fill our small heart.
The only thing that satisfies us is something eternal, something of God being wrought into us, constituted into our being, to fill us and saturate us.
Our real life is not what we live outwardly on earth; our real life as believers is Christ Himself, and this Christ is hidden in God.
We are made to be mysterious persons, persons who are not only seeking for outward things nor just doing things to meet our needs but who live above all these things, one with the Lord, in the realm of God.
When we touch the things of God, when we contact God and are in fellowship with Him, we realize we touch something eternal, something more than what the world can offer; in our contact with God we can say one with the psalmist, Who do I have in heaven by You, and there’s nothing I desire on earth but You.
As we grow in the divine life and in the human life, the more we live in an intimate contact with the Lord, the more we treasure Him, and the more we are willing to give ourselves to Him and live full time one with Him, living to the Lord and not to ourselves or for ourselves.
As Christians, we need to Present our Body to God and live Full-time for Him
In Rom. 12:1 Paul exhorts us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God.
What does it mean to present our body? In its basic meaning, to present our body means to bring our body to the meetings of the church; the highest meaning of presenting our body to God is to go full-time, to live full time for Him.
As we undergo the process of regeneration, renewing, transformation, and being saved in life, as we realize that the entire Triune God is operating in us to work Himself in us, we realize that we simply need to present our body to God.
Our entire being is contained in our body, so wherever our body goes, that’s where we are; our body is confined in our time.
The body is the center of our being and the center of our time. We may be able to change the place we live in, but we can’t move ourselves out of our body, and nor can we move out of time.
We always remain in our body, and we remain in time; when we were saved, we touched something of eternity, and the more we enjoy the Lord, the more we enjoy the One who is eternal and is everything to us.
All Christians need to be full-timers; we all need to give ourselves to the Lord to live full-time for Him.
He doesn’t want us to live part-time for Him, neither does He want some who are like 9 am-5 pm employees to do His work.
The Lord came and gave Himself up for us, and He gave everything He was and has for us; even more, today He is still giving what He is and has to us, and He works Himself with all He has accomplished and attained into us.
We need to realize that, in principle, every saved one should be a full-timer.
We simply need to present ourselves to God; through the compassions of God, through His mercies which are new every morning, we present ourselves to God, presenting our body to Him.
Being full-time for the Lord doesn’t mean that we automatically drop our job and now we go preach the gospel without any care for money.
Being full-time means that we present our body to God and live full-time for Him.
Whether we do a job or preach the gospel full-time depends on the Lord’s leading; we live to Him, we present our body to God, and He leads us what to do, where to go, and what to speak.
Being a full-timer means that we are absolute for the Lord. We may do a job and earn five or six times more than what we need, but because we are full-timers, we spend only what we need, and we give the rest to the Lord.
In the church life, we shouldn’t merely practice the principle of tithing; we need to give ourselves to the Lord with all we are and have.
In the Old Testament, there’s the law that specifies that we should give ten per cent to God; in the New Testament, we need to offer our body to God and live full-time for Him – we all are full-timers!
We need to present our entire being to God, including everything we are, everything we have, everything we do, everything we earn, and everything we can do – it is all God’s.
We have been brought into an organic union with Him, and we offer our body to God, presenting our whole being to Him, not because we have to and this is the requirement in the Bible, but because we are joined to Him and we do this in oneness with Him.
He gives Himself to us, and we give ourselves to Him; in this organic union with the Lord, what is His is ours, and what is ours is His.
May we practice this in our daily life, especially by coming to the Lord in prayer and telling Him,
Lord Jesus, we present our bodies to You as a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to You. Amen, Lord, this is our reasonable service, to be full-time for You. We present ourselves to You, dear Lord, and we want to live in oneness with You. What we are belongs to You, and what You are belongs to us. Teach us and lead us what to do as we live full-time for the Lord. Amen, dear Lord, we are not our own – we belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to us, and we want to live full-time for the Lord in our daily life! We simply present ourselves with everything we are, everything we do, and everything we earn! Keep us in the organic union with You, living one spirit with You today!
All Believers are Full-timers, for a Full-timer is one who Lives to the Lord!
When we were unbelievers, we lived to ourselves and for ourselves, and we cared only for ourselves and the things concerning us and those close to us.
However, when we believed into the Lord we were brought into an organic union with the Lord, and now no one lives to himself or dies to himself.
Whether we live, we live to the Lord, and whether we die, we die to the Lord (Rom. 14:7-8).
Whether we live or we die, we are the Lord’s and He is ours, for Christ died and lived again for this, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. How sweet is this!
The Lord is ours, we are His, and we live to Him, even as He is everything to us and in us.
Being a full-timer doesn’t mean that we give up our job and our business, and we become one who preaches the gospel and who labors in the Word of God all the time.
A full-timer is a person who lives to the Lord; therefore, all believers are and should be full-timers.
Without one exception, as believers in Christ, we need to be full-timers, those who live to the Lord.
We need to realize that we should be living to Him in our daily living. We are His, and He is ours; we enjoy Him, and He is lived out through us.
Living to the Lord is more than living for Him; it is possible for us to live for the Lord yet not do what He wants us to do but what we want to do for Him.
It is possible for a wife to live for her husband, doing her best to clean the house, wash the dishes, do the laundry, and make the best food, but she may not listen to her husband in what he desires, nor does she cook the food that he likes but the food she likes.
If we live for the Lord, it is easy to hold things back and serve Him part-time; the Lord doesn’t want merely part-time volunteers – He wants to gain our whole being, our whole time, our whole energy, and our whole heart.
We live not merely for the Lord but to the Lord. It is such a privilege for us as human beings who have been shown mercy of God to live to the Lord, to be full-timers.
The Lord bought us with the price of His own blood, and He is daily dispensing what He is and has done into us, and He is ours; we are His, and He is ours.
We and Him are one; He is to us, and we are to Him. In this sweet organic union, which is typified by the marriage union but is even deeper and higher than this, we have the privilege to be full-timers, that is, to live to the Lord.
Christ died for all so that we may no longer live to ourselves but to Him who died for us and has been raised (2 Cor. 5:15).
We have the Spirit of God dwelling in us, and we are of Him (Rom. 8:9); He lives in us, and we live in oneness with Him.
We are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s (1 Cor. 3:23). Hallelujah, Christ died for us in order that, whether we watch or sleep, we may live together with Him (1 Thes. 5:10)!
Amen, faithful is the word: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him (2 Tim. 2:11)!
Because He lives, we also live (John 14:19), for we have died with Christ, and now we also live with Him (Rom. 6:8).
The Bible is so clear concerning this, and our experience confirms it also: we believers in Christ have the privilege to be full-timers, those who live to the Lord by living in the organic union with Him in their daily living.
Hallelujah, what a privilege it is for us to no longer live to ourselves but to the Lord, the One who died for us and has been raised! Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You with all we are and have; we want to live to the Lord. We are Yours, Lord, and You are ours. We abide in You, and You abide in us. Thank You for bringing us into this organic union with the Triune God in our mingled spirit. We want to live to You today by living in the organic union with You in our daily living. Amen, Lord, cause us to realize that we are full-timers, those who live to the Lord! Hallelujah, the Lord Jesus is ours, we are the Lord’s, and we no longer live to ourselves but to Him!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, and portions from, Elders’ Training, Book 8: The Life-pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, ch. 7 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Material offerings and the Lord’s Move Today, week 3, entitled, Material Offerings and Full-time Service.
- Recommended further reading: see the website, LivingToHim.com for more articles on living to the Lord and being full-timers in the Biblical sense.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Your love constrains me to give my all to You. / Lord, I can’t help it; my heart is drawn to You. / Oh what a privilege! I give myself to You! / I love You, Lord, dearest Lord. / I love You! I just love You! (Song on, Lord, keep my heart always true to You)
– When such as we the King can choose, / To share with Him His throne, / ’Tis passing strange that we refuse / To be our Lord’s alone. / O never speak of sacrifice! / A privilege untold / Is to be His at any price, / In Calv’ry’s hosts enrolled. (Hymns #473)
– Weary soul, give up the struggle, / Cease at length thyself to own; / Give yourself away to Jesus, / And belong to Him alone. / Once He gave His all to win thee, / Now He asks as much of thee; / All He has He fully gives thee; / Let thy love His portion be. (Hymns #452)
About aGodMan
Amen. The Lord’s is our, and we belong to Him full time.