The Christian Life is a Life of Living Christ; the Way to Live Christ is to Love Him

The Christian life is a life of living Christ; our living today as Christians should be Christ, and the way to live Christ is to love Christ and exercise our spirit to enjoy all the deep and hidden things of God actively researched and brought to us by the Spirit of God. Amen!

This week we come to a new Holy Word for Morning Revival on the topic of, The Christian Life (based on the 2024 Memorial Day Blending Conference).

The topic for this first week is, The Intrinsic Significance of the Christian life.

As believers in Christ, we are Christians; however, have we ever wondered what is the intrinsic significance of the Christian life according to God’s word?

I have not, and you may have not either.

But thank the Lord, we can take time to spend in God’s word with a prayerful attitude and consider in a spirit and atmosphere of prayer what is the intrinsic significance of the Christian life.

On one hand, the Christian life seems something simple and evident, and most Christians seem to know what is the Christian life.

On the other hand, we need to come to the Lord in His word and allow Him to remove our concepts and religious thoughts concerning what is the Christian life so that we may be renewed by Him in His word.

We need to come to the Lord in a fresh way day by day and ask Him to grant us the portion of grace we need so that we may live the Christian life.

We need to ask the Lord to live in us, be expressed through us, and do everything in us and for us.

The Christian life is simply Christ living again in us the same kind of life that He lived when He was on the earth.

The Christian life, in as we see in this portion today, is a life of living Christ.

What does it mean to love Christ? What does it mean for Christ to live in us? How can we, human beings, live another person?

Paul said that to him to live was Christ and to die was gain, and that it wasn’t him who lives but Christ who lives in him (Phil. 1:21; Gal. 2:20).

What about us today as believers in Christ, is our Christian life a life of living Christ? Do we love the Lord and do we live Christ?

How much we need the Lord’s shining on us moment by moment so that we may be brought up to His standard in our Christian life.

How much we need the Lord to work Himself into us and live out of us in all the details of our daily life.

The Christian Life is a Life of Living Christ, and the Way to Live Christ is to Love Him

Simply understanding that the Christian life is a life of living Christ is not enough; simply agreeing with the fact that the way to live Christ is to love Him does not suffice.

We need to realize that we as believers in Christ have a particular kind of life and living – this is our Christian life.

The Christian life is a life of living Christ; our living should be Christ, and the way to live Christ is to love Christ (Phil. 1:19-21; Gal. 2:20). Amen!

We need to give ourselves to the Lord day by day to love Him and live Him.

We can live Christ by loving Him to the uttermost (2 Cor. 5:14; 1 John 4:19; Phil. 1:19-21a; Mark 12:30; Rev. 2:4-5; John 14:21, 23; 21:15-17; 1 Pet. 1:8; 1 Cor. 2:9; 16:22).

There are so many verses in the New Testament both commanding us to love the Lord and incentivising us to love Him; also, there are some warnings regarding not loving Him.

If we do not love Christ, we cannot live Christ; loving Christ is the best way to concentrate our entire being on Him.

2 Cor. 5:14 says that the love of Christ constrains us, for we have judged this: one died for all, therefore all died, and we died so that we may no longer live to ourselves but live to Him!

Day by day we need to ask the Lord to constrain us with His love so that we may live to the Lord that day.

We need to ask Him to constrain us with His love so that everything we do is for His preferences, for His likes, for His taste, and for His desire.

In Mark 12:30 the Lord says that the greatest commandment is to love God with our whole heart and with our whole soul and with our whole mind and with our whole strength.

We need to love the Lord not only with our heart and mind but even with our physical strength.

Thank the Lord that He has commanded us to love Him. When we lose our first love toward the Lord, degradation comes in (Rev. 2:4).

To love the Lord is to give Him the first place in all things.

In our daily life, in our church life, in our family life, and in all things the Lord needs to have the first place.

We need to love the Lord so much that we desire to dwell in His sanctuary to behold His beauty and enquire in His presence.

This means that in all the things of our daily life, we check with the Lord about everything.

We check with Him concerning our job, our workmates, the places we go to, the way we dress, and the way we speak to others.

We love Him, so we give Him the first place.

As we open to Him in all things, giving Him the preeminence, the Lord does everything in us and for us, even though us.

When we love the Lord, the Father and the Son come to us to make an abode with us (John 14:21, 23).

When we love the Lord and abide in His word, the Father and the Son come to abide with us and supply us with all that we need.

He wants to manifest Himself to us and live in us. He lives in us all the time, but we want to enjoy His manifestation.

He is in us, but is He manifested to us and through us? Do we have the Lord’s fresh manifestation?

When He is manifested in us and to us, He can also be manifested through us.

The Christian life is a life of living Christ, and our living should be Christ.

How can we live Christ? The best and most excellent way to live Christ is to love Him.

May we give ourselves to love the Lord. When we love Him, the Father and the Son come to visit us and dwell with us, and we have the Lord’s fresh manifestation.

To love God is to set our entire being on Him; loving the Lord involves setting our spirit, soul, and body with the heart, soul, mind, and strength absolutely on the Lord.

We need to focus our entire being on Him, even let our entire being be occupied by Him and lost in Him.

When we love Him to such an extent, the Lord becomes everything to us, and we are one with Him practically in our daily lives.

As we engage in and are involved with the daily activities of our daily life, we need to concentrate our whole being on the Lord.

We need to love Him to the uttermost, focusing all that we are on Him.

Outwardly we do many things, but inwardly we love the Lord and focus our whole being on Him.

Living Christ requires that we love Him to the uttermost.

When we love the Lord to the uttermost, all that He is becomes ours, He richly supplies us, we are focused on Him, and we’re just one with the Lord in a practical way in our daily life.

Lord Jesus, we love You. We set our whole being on You. Thank You for commanding us to love You with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. Amen, Lord, we want to live Christ by loving Christ to the uttermost. Save us from not loving You. Save us from merely trying to please You or fulfil what the Bible says in our own strength. We love You, and we set our whole being on You. We set our spirit, soul, and body with our heart, soul, mind, and strength absolutely on You. Amen, Lord, we let our entire being be occupied by You and lost in You. Become everything to us. Make us one with You practically in our daily life. We come to You, dear Lord, concerning all things in our daily life. We want to live in Your presence and enquire in Your temple, opening to You concerning all things in our daily life. Oh Lord, we give You the first place in all things. Have the preeminence in us. We love You and we abide in Your word. Manifest Yourself to us. We want to have Your fresh presence. Live in us today.

When we Love God and Exercise our Spirit, we Enjoy Christ as the Depths of God

The Christian life is a life of living Christ, and we live Christ by loving Christ. When we love God, we enjoy God.

It’s not enough just to believe in God, to worship God, and to fear God; all these are necessary, but if we want to enjoy God, we need to love God.

If we want to live Christ, we need to love Him.

If we want to realize and participate in the deep and hidden things God has ordained and prepared for us, we need to not just believe into Him but even more, love Him (1 Cor. 2:9).

We need to love God with our whole being, living in the closest and most intimate fellowship with God so that we may be able to enter into His heart and apprehend all its secrets (Psa. 73:25; 25:14).

May we be such ones. May we love the Lord.

When we love the Lord, the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:10).

The Greek word for “searches” is used in reference to active research; it implies accurate knowledge gained not by discovering but by exploring.

Hallelujah, the Spirit of God actively researches and explores the depths of God concerning Christ and shows them to us in our spirit for our realization and participation when we love God!

When we love the Lord, the Spirit of God actively brings to surface some of the deep things of God, which is Christ in many aspects, and reveals these things to us.

The depths of God are the deep things of God; the deep things of God are Christ in many aspects as our eternal portion.

This Christ has been foreordained, prepared, and given to us freely by God.

We have never thought about these depths of God, nor did they rise up in our heart; however, they are revealed to us in our spirit by God’s Spirit.

For us to partake of Christ as the deep and hidden things of God, we need to love the Lord and we need to exercise our spirit.

When we exercise our spirit to love the Lord, we enjoy Christ as the depths of God, the deep things of God actively researched and brought to us for our enjoyment and participation in our Christian life. Wow!

Day by day we need to love the Lord by setting our whole being on Him.

In big things and small things, we need to love the Lord and give ourselves to love Him so that we may enjoy Christ as the deep and hidden things of God.

God has prepared some deep things, some hidden things in Himself, for those who love Him.

When we love the Lord, though we may have not even thought or imagined the wonderful and deep things of God, He comes to us and applies Christ to us for our participation and enjoyment.

We will not only realize but also experience, enjoy, and fully participate in these deep and hidden things of God.

On the one hand, we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord and be open to Him daily.

On the other hand, we turn our heart to Him and exercise our heart of love to love the Lord.

As we love Christ, we live Christ, thus having a proper Christian life.

The Christian life is a life of living Christ, and we live Christ by loving Him.

We live Christ by loving Him, and as we love Him, we enjoy, participate in, realize, and experience the deep and hidden things of God, which is Christ in many aspects for our enjoyment and participation.

The Spirit of God does active research and deep exploration of the depths of God concerning Christ, and He shows them to us in our spirit for our realization and participation.

May we have such an experience day by day so that we may live the proper Christian life, which is a life of living Christ.

Lord Jesus, we love You. We set our entire being on You. We set our inner being and even our whole strength on You so that we may enjoy You and be one with You, and You may be one with us practically in our daily life. Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to be in the closest and most intimate fellowship with God so that we may enter into His heart and apprehend all its secrets. Oh Lord Jesus, we love You! We want to realize, participate in, enjoy, and experience the deep and hidden things of God which He has prepared for us. Praise the Lord, the Spirit of God searches all things, doing active research and exploring of the depths of God concerning Christ and makes these real to us in our experience. Praise the Lord, things which the eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not come up in man’s heart are things which God has prepared for us who love Him! We love You, Lord Jesus! We exercise our spirit to apprehend all the deep and hidden things of God concerning Christ! Amen, Lord, we love You and we want to live Christ!

Read this article in the Romanian language – citiți acest articol în limba română la următorul link, Viața creștină este o viață a trăirii lui Cristos; calea de a-L trăi pe Cristos este să-L iubim pe El.

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 Ed Marks in the message for this week, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1989, vol. 3, “The Experience and Growth in Life,” ch. 5, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life (2024 Memorial Day Blending Conference), week 1, The Intrinsic Significance of the Christian Life.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The Christian life being the life in which the believers of Christ live Christ and magnify Him, a portion from, The Christian Life, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – How Can We Experience Christ Living in Us? More via, the Bibles for America blog.
  – The Christian life is a life, new song via, Hymnal.net.
  – Our Basic Choice, via, Shepherding Words.
  – The Christian life as a life with the processed and dispensing God, a portion from, The Experience and Growth in Life, Chapter 29, by Witness Lee.
  – Christ is Our Life and We Live Him, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The Experience of Christ as Life, via, An Open Letter.
  – How to Live Christ, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The Christian Life in Philippians, via, Uni Students youtube channel.
  – Christ Growing in Our Heart (4): The Significance of Speaking in the Experience of Jacob and Joseph, via, Living to Him.
  – Excellent characteristics of the Christian life, LSM Radio Broadcast from Philippians.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Thy mighty love, O God, constraineth me, / As some strong tide it presseth on its way, / Seeking a channel in my self-bound soul, / Yearning to sweep all barriers away. / Shall I not yield to that constraining power? / Shall I not say, O tide of love, flow in? / My God, Thy gentleness hath conquered me, / Life cannot be as it hath hither been. (Hymns #431 stanzas 1-2)
  – Shining One—how clear the sky above me! / Son of Man, I see Thee on the throne! / Holy One, the flames of God consume me, / Till my being glows with Thee alone. / Lord, when first I saw Thee in Thy splendor, / All self-love and glory sank in shame; / Now my heart its love and praises render, / Tasting all the sweetness of Thy name. (Hymns #1159 stanza 2)
  – To realize and participate / In the deep and hidden things / God has ordained and prepared for us / Requires us not only to believe in Him / But also to love Him. / To fear God, to worship God, / And to believe in God, / That is, to receive God, / Are all inadequate; / To love Him is the indispensable requirement. / To love Him is the indispensable requirement. (Song on, To realize and participate)