Focus on Christ and Think the One Thing: to Enjoy and Experience Christ Subjectively

As believers in Christ, we need to focus on Christ and think the one thing – the enjoyment and experience of Christ in a subjective way day by day.

Since the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ is the unique solution to all the problems in the church, we should focus on the one thing – Christ and the enjoyment of Christ, thinking the one thing of pursuing to gain Christ so that we may enjoy and possess Him. Amen!

According to 1 Cor. 1:9, God has called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

We have been called to enjoy Christ and partake of Him.

This fellowship is mutual, and this partaking is reciprocal: we enjoy Christ and He enjoys us, and we partake of Christ and He partakes of us.

God has allotted to each one of us, the believers in Christ, a portion of Christ as the reality of the good land, so that we may enjoy it not just individually but together with the saints in the light (Col. 1:12).

Each one of us has been allotted a portion of Christ for our enjoyment.

No matter how low we may be in our Christian life and no matter how degraded our situation is in our Christian living, we can all return to the Lord, repent, confess, and go on to enjoy our allotted portion of Christ.

The reason we have problems among us in the church life is because of the lack of the enjoyment of Christ.

Paul wrote to the saints in Corinth, in his first epistle, to deal with many of the problems that they had; after dealing with all these problems, he would present a rich aspect of Christ.

There are at least twenty rich aspects of Christ in the book of 1 Corinthians, unveiling to us that Christ and His cross are the unique solutions to all the problems in the church life.

May we learn to focus on Christ and not on any other things or persons.

May we set our eyes only on the Lord and forget about anything else.

We may have been offended by someone or we may simply not like the way a person talks to us; instead of focusing on that person and his attitude, we need to focus on Christ.

We want to enjoy Christ in this age and obtain the prize of the full enjoyment and experience of Christ in the next age.

Our goal is nothing else but the fullest enjoyment of Christ in the next age and reigning with Him in the millennial kingdom; for this, we count all other things as loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

When we concentrate on Christ and not on any other persons, things, or matters, He becomes our unique center, and all our problems are solved.

Many of the problems we have in our personal life and in the church life are due to the fact that we do not enjoy Christ enough.

We need to return to the Lord and just enjoy Him.

Focus on Christ and Think the One Thing: Enjoying and Experiencing Christ Subjectively

In Phil. 2:2 Paul asked the saints in Philippi to make his joy full that they think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking the one thing.

What is this one thing? We need to think the same thing, even the one thing; what is this one thing that Paul encourages us to think of?

According to the context of the book of Philippians, the one thing must refer to the subjective knowledge of Christ and experience of Christ (1:20-21; 2:5; 3:7-9; 4:13).

We need to be those thinking the one thing: pursuing Christ to gain Him and enjoy Him to the uttermost.

Our thinking is very troublesome, and our way of thinking and our thoughts many times get us into trouble.

In the church life we are with many other saints who think differently from us; how can we be one, if we all think in a different way?

God made us in such a way that we’re different from others, and none of us – not even the husband and the wife – thinks the same way as the other.

However, Paul says that we need to think the one thing.

Christ and only Christ needs to be the centrality and universality of our entire being.

Our thinking needs to be focused on Christ, on the excellency of the knowledge of Christ and the experience of Christ.

If we focus on anything else apart from Christ, we will think differently, and thus dissensions may come in among us.

We may be good saints, and our church may be quite established, just as the church in Philippi.

However, there may be some dissensions among us, simply because we do not think the one thing.

We may be one in spirit with the saints, but we may not strive together with one soul.

We may all love the Lord and come together with the saints, but we may not think the same thing. Oh, Lord Jesus!

May we be those who are thinking the one thing, the pursuing of Christ to gain Christ and enjoy Christ to the uttermost!

In Philippi there were some problems between serving saints; there were at least two sisters who were serving who did not think the same thing, the one thing.

So Paul exhorted them to think the one thing and be joined in soul.

What is our mind occupied with? What are we thinking about, and what is our focus?

Outwardly, we may focus on taking care of our family, doing our job, and taking care of so many things.

But what is our focus in our Christian life? Is our mind occupied with situations and persons?

Or is our mind lazy, just wandering all over the place and thinking about all kinds of things?

We need to have our mind renewed. We need to take captive every thought unto the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).

Sometimes we may have a thought about one of the saints or one of the elders, and we realize, wow, this is not me, this is something from the enemy.

Right away, we need to take that thought captive unto the obedience of Christ.

We may think certain things and in a certain way which is not conducive to the oneness of the Body nor is it focused on the enjoyment of Christ, and then the Lord’s light shines on us.

We need to exercise our spirit and take these thoughts captive unto the obedience of Christ.

Anything that is not the one thing needs to be put aside.

We may have a time of prayer with the Lord and, as we are praying to contact Him, we may focus on situations and persons rather than the Lord.

May the Lord shine on us and bring us back to Himself as the unique thing we should be focused on.

May we come back to the Lord and have our mind renewed.

May we be those who exercise our spirit to have a sober mind, a mind that is not wandering or focusing on other things but is thinking the one thing – pursuing Christ to gain Christ and enjoy Him to the uttermost!

Lord Jesus, we want to think the one thing: pursuing Christ to gain Him and possess Him! Amen, Lord, we do not want to focus on anything and anyone else; we just want to concentrate on You! We care only for the subjective knowledge, experience, and enjoyment of Christ! Oh Lord Jesus, we come to You again and again to just enjoy You. We want to take captive every thought unto the obedience of Christ. Amen, Lord, shine on us and expose anything in us that is not focused on You. Renew our mind. We want to be in Your word with much prayer and consideration so that we may focus only on You and on the enjoyment of Christ. We want to enjoy You more. Save us from not enjoying You. Save us from not focusing on Christ. Oh Lord, save us from not thinking the one thing, which is the enjoyment of Christ to gain Him to the uttermost.

Repenting for our Rebellion and Thinking only of the Enjoyment and Experience of Christ

The apostle Paul is a good pattern to us in the matter of focusing on the one thing, the enjoyment and experience of Christ.

He pursued toward the goal for the prize (Phil. 3:14), and he forgot the things which were behind so that he would gain more of Christ.

The goal is the fullest enjoyment and gaining of Christ, and the prize is the uttermost enjoyment of Christ in the millennial kingdom as a reward to the victorious runners of the New Testament race.

If we want to reach the goal for the prize, we need to exercise ourselves to forget all other things and leave all else behind, and stretch forward to the things which are before.

God has called us for an excellent prize and with a high calling; the heavenly calling of God (Heb. 3:1) is for the heavenly commonwealth (Phil. 3:20).

He called us upward that we may take possession of Christ as our all-inclusive good land.

There are many things, however, that come in to distract us from enjoying Christ, partaking of Christ, and experiencing Christ.

So we need to forget all the things behind us and freshly stretch forward to what is before to gain more of Christ.

God has set up a goal and prepared a prize for us.

May we run a good race and pursue Christ by forgetting the things which are behind us and stretching forward to the things concerning Christ and His Body, the church.

There’s a bright future ahead of us, a future of gaining Christ and experiencing Him to the uttermost in His Body.

May we continually return to the Lord from any other thing and just enjoy Him.

May we realize that the only thing we should think about is the enjoyment and experience of Christ for the Body life.

To think something other than the one thing is to rebel against God’s economy. Wow!

God’s economy is that we think the one thing, and we should help one another to think the one thing.

If we do not think the one thing, however, we rebel against the economy of God.

Our thoughts should be focused on and filled with the enjoyment of Christ for the church life, the Body life.

However, many times our thoughts are focused on something else.

Unwittingly we have rebelled against God’s economy by not thinking the one thing.

We do not want to be such ones. Rather, we want to focus on God’s economy with Christ and the church as the center and focus, that we would enjoy Christ.

If someone in the church life has offended us, we should not think of that offense; rather, we should focus only on Christ and on the enjoyment of Christ.

If we think of the offense, we rebel against God. This is something serious.

If we murmur, being displeased with a situation and speaking about it to someone else, we are disobedient and rebellious against God. Oh Lord Jesus!

We may think that we just speak our mind, but actually, we are rebellious against God when we murmur because we do not think the same thing, the one thing.

May the Lord enlighten us concerning this matter and bring us back to the enjoyment of Christ.

May we be enlightened concerning murmuring and reasoning and may we repent before the Lord for our rebelliousness.

May we come back to the Lord and work out our own salvation with fear and trembling by enjoying Him to the uttermost and by focusing only on the enjoyment and experience of Christ for the church!

When we repent for our being rebellious against God, we work out our salvation; when we focus on the one thing, the enjoyment and experience of Christ, we cooperate with God for our salvation.

This will cause us to be in genuine oneness.

If we’re not in this genuine oneness, we are in some kind of hell.

How much we need the salvation that is the genuine oneness so that we are not just one in spirit but even more, one in soul!

When we think the one thing, when we’re those thinking the one thing – the enjoyment and experience of Christ – we are one not only in spirit but also in soul.

Lord Jesus, forgive our rebellion. Forgive us for disobeying You in Your economy. We want to be obedient to Your economy to think the one thing. We do not want to focus on the offenses or past problems; we simply want to focus on Christ to enjoy and experience Christ for the church. Oh Lord Jesus, even though others may have offended us and we have so many things to complain about, we refuse to reason and murmur and we choose to think the one thing! We want to think only of the enjoyment and experience of Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ! Amen, Lord, we open to You. We work out our own salvation by thinking the one thing, the excellent Christ given to us for our enjoyment. Grant us to be in the genuine oneness and not in the hell that is not the oneness. Oh Lord, we want to think the one thing so that we may be one not only in spirit but also in soul!

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 James Lee in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1978, vol. 1, “The Experience of Christ,” p. 363, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Enjoyment of Christ and our Growth in Life unto Maturity (2023 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 1, entitled, The Enjoyment of the All-inclusive Christ as the Unique Solution to All Problems in the Church.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – What is the Enjoyment of Christ? Read more via, The Hearing of Faith.
  – The experience of Christ and the enjoyment of Christ, a portion from, The Experience of Christ, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – The Vision, Experience, and Enjoyment of the Glorious and Excellent Christ as the Supreme… – a video message by brother Ed Marks.
  – How Can We Experience Christ Living in Us? Read more via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Enjoyment of Christ – via Bible Study Radio.
  – Choosing to Exercise our Spirit, article at, Living to Him.
  – Thinking one thing, a portion from, The Experience of Christ, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee.
  – Renewed in the Spirit of Your Mind – What does it mean and how do you experience it? More at, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Having the same mind and walking by the same rule, a portion from, Life-Study of Philippians, Chapter 24.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Lord, we would our every thought be captured / By the rich enjoyment in Your Word. / In it we’re supplied, our mind there will abide, / Till our thoughts are wholly sanctified. / Let’s keep practicing the application / Of this life by minding just the Son. / Praise Him for the way to live by Him today! / Lord, on You our minds will ever stay. (Hymns #1193 stanzas 6-7)
  – As for Thy life within, / In darkness I mistake— / If spirit or the flesh, / One for the other take. / As for Thy way, O Lord, / I often am not clear; / I toward seclusion tend / And from the pathway veer. / Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, / Scatter all my night, Lord, / And everything make bright, Lord, / For this I pray to Thee. (Hymns #426 stanzas 4-5 and chorus)
  – Life is full of opportunities / Ordered by our Father’s hand: we see / Everything’s the best that it could be, / So let’s gain Christ! / Christ our content and reality / To shine out from us unceasingly: / He must have a way in you and me, / He must have a way. (Hymns #1178 part of stanza 2)