We need to Grow and Mature in the Life of Christ until Christ is Formed in us

In order for us to be mature in the divine sonship and be sons of full age, we need to grow unto maturity until Christ is formed in us; Christ is being formed in us and we are conformed to His image little by little, day by day. Hallelujah!

Our need today is to grow in life unto maturity until Christ is fully formed in us and we express Him in a corporate way; this is maturity in life.

There is a difference between transformation and maturity.

Transformation is a metabolic process by which we are inwardly changed by the divine life we have received in our spirit.

Maturity is the consummation of the process of transformation and is being filled with the divine life that transforms us and changes us within.

We see this in the story of Jacob in the Old Testament.

He started as a supplanter, being eager and cunning to take things from others until he had everything he wanted.

Even from his birth, he held his twin brother’s heel, for he wanted to be first.

Then he stole his brother’s birthright and his blessing, and he had to flee to his uncle Laban.

Even with Laban, though he was mistreated, he accumulated wives, children, and cattle so much so that Laban and his family did not want him there anymore.

In all this time, however, Jacob was not transformed. His transformation came later, from Gen. 27 to Gen. 37.

In these chapters it seemed that he kept losing, for he no longer was accumulating things nor was he deceiving others to gain things; rather, he had problem after problem.

At the end of chapter 36, his transformation was relatively complete, and then from ch. 37 to ch. 47, he started to be mature in life.

We may be transformed in our soul, and our mind may be renewed, our emotions may be in check with God’s life, and our will may be subdued by God, but we may not have the fullness of life.

What God desires is that we would be filled with life.

So on one hand He dispenses Himself with all that He is into us, and on the other hand, He arranges certain circumstances to deal with us and strip us of anything that hinders us from enjoying Him.

God loves us, so He disciplines us; He disciplines us for a period of time so that we may have an increased capacity to enjoy God and be filled with God.

There are three possible outcomes to our passing through the discipline of the Holy Spirit: we become hardened and not open, we are murmuring and full of complaints toward God, or we simply become open vessels to the Lord for Him to fill us to the brim.

May we be those who learn to open to the Lord as we pass through problems, trials, and tough situations so that we may have our capacity to gain God enlarged until we are filled with God’s life.

Growing in Life unto Maturity until Christ is Formed in us and we are Transformed in His Image

Praise the Lord, we believers in Christ are not only men created in the image of God and according to His likeness but also those regenerated by God to be conformed to the image of Christ!

The purpose of God’s salvation is that He would work in us so that we may have His image (Rom. 8:29).

We need to grow in life unto maturity until Christ is formed in us and we are transformed in His image.

To be mature in life is to have Christ fully formed in us, to be fully conformed to the image of Christ.

Day by day we need to behold the Lord, spend time with Him, and reflect Him, so that we may be transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18).

Originally, we were men who were merely natural; we only had the human life, being natural and expressing ourselves in our own image.

But through regeneration, we have received the life and nature of God, and HIs image started to be formed in us.

Through the process of God’s organic salvation, the image of Christ is worked into us to be expressed through us.

Little by little, day by day, Christ is adding Himself into us, causing us to be filled with His life and nature.

As we open to the Lord again and again, having fellowship with Him and simply calling on His name throughout the day, we are growing in the divine life unto maturity, and Christ is being formed in us.

We have God’s life and nature within us – we are partakers of the life of God (John 3:6; 1:12-13) and of the nature of God (2 Pet. 1:4).

Our sins are forgiven, and we have the divine life growing within us, but many times we still live by ourselves, relying not on the Lord but on ourselves.

We rely too much on ourselves rather than the life of Christ. We still express ourselves and not the Lord.

This is why Paul said in Gal. 4:19, My children, with whom I travail again in birth.

Paul travailed, labored, in birth pain so that Christ would be formed in the believers.

God comes into us in His salvation to mingle Himself with us.

He wants to be our life (Col. 3:4) and grow in us (2:19) until we all arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

God’s goal in His salvation is that we would be mingled with God by Christ making His home deep down in our heart through faith (Eph. 3:17) so that we may grow in life unto maturity (4:13).

As we grow in the divine life day by day, we will one day be conformed to the image of Christ and Christ is formed in us in full; in that day we will express God in full as His Body, His corporate expression.

He has done everything on His side; Christ came to die for us, redeem us, and take away our sins (John 1:29).

Then He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17) so that He may come into us to be our life and our everything.

Now Christ lives in us (Gal. 2:20) and grows in us, and we are being brought to maturity so that Christ may be formed in us.

May we cooperate with the process of God’s organic salvation so that we may grow in life continually and Christ would be formed in us.

When Christ is fully formed in us, when we are conformed to the image of Christ in full, we will be mature in His life.

This is where we are heading to, and this is our destiny. Christ being formed in us is needed so that we may be mature in the divine sonship and be sons of full age (Gal. 4:4-5; Rom. 8:15; Eph. 1:5).

Thank the Lord that, since the time of our regeneration, He has been working in us so that we may have His image.

When He has fully worked His image into us and He is fully expressed through us, we will be mature in life (Eph. 3:16-17).

May we daily cooperate with the Lord’s inner working in our being so that His life may grow in us and HIs image may be expressed through us.

Lord Jesus, we open to Your working within us. Work Yourself into us. Mingle Yourself with us and mingle us with You. We want to grow in life unto maturity so that Christ may be formed in us. Amen, Lord, conform us to Your image. Transform us inwardly and conform us outwardly to the image of Christ so that we may be Your corporate expression. We just open to Your inner operating in our being. Work Your image into us, Make Yourself at home in all our heart and conform us to Your image in emotion, mind, and will. Lord, saturate us with Your spirit. Fill our whole being with Yourself. Grow in us unto maturity so that Christ may be formed in us and we may be conformed to the image of Christ in full!

Our Need to Grow and Mature in the Life of Christ Day by Day

The New Testament reveals that all believers in Christ need to grow in life unto maturity so that Christ would gain the Body of Christ, the corporate expression of Christ.

Just as a baby is born and grows little by little, day by day, we believers in Christ were born of God and need to grow in the divine life unto maturity day by day.

The life of Christ in us has to grow. Sadly, however, many Christians do not even know that the life of Christ is in them, and they do not cooperate with the Lord so that His life in them would grow.

If we don’t grow and mature, we will remain in a childish stage, and we cannot achieve God’s purpose.

Those who don’t grow and mature in the life of Christ cannot apprehend the word of righteousness, which is like solid food (Heb. 5:12-14).

They cannot comprehend the revelation of God’s deeper word and therefore are unable to participate in God’s New Testament economy.

It is so sad to see that some believers in Christ do not grow in the life of Christ.

Years pass by, but there’s no inward growth of Christ nor is there a conforming to the image of Christ.

Such ones are not able to comprehend God’s economy; they do not know how to cooperate with God in His economy.

The wisdom of God’s economy can only be spoken to those who are full-grown (1 Cor. 2:6).

May we grow and mature in the life of Christ day by day, not missing one day of growth in life.

May there be an increase of the element of God in us until we mature in the life of God and Christ is formed in us in full.

As we grow in life, our mind is renewed, and we can comprehend the wisdom in God’s economy; as a result, we can enter into God’s economy and participate in God’s economy.

Furthermore, we can be built up with the saints in the church as the Body of Christ, and we will function in our measure for the building up of the Body.

Our growth in life unto maturity will cause us to have many functions and to participate in the building up of the church.

But if we don’t grow, if we remain infantile, if we are still babes in the Lord, we will be easily tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching, deceived and led in craftiness with a view to a system of error, being tricked by Satan (Eph. 4:13-14). Oh Lord Jesus!

The full-grown can take the word of righteousness as solid food, grow in life unto maturity, and stand in the Lord, not being easily shaken or moved by any wind of teaching, in the sleight of men.

May we daily grow and mature in the life of Christ so that we may comprehend the revelation of God and know His economy and plan.

May we grow and mature in life day by day so that we may be conformed to the image of Christ and for Christ to be formed in us.

And may we grow unto maturity so that we may not be deceived and tricked by Satan.

May we bring this matter to the Lord and ask Him to give us daily our portion of grace so that we may grow in His life.

May we open to Him day by day so that He may work in us and work Himself into us so that His life would grow.

We cannot make ourselves grow, but we can open to the Lord.

We cannot cause the growth, but we can come to the Lord in prayer day by day so that He may grow in us, increase in our being, and spread from our spirit into our mind, emotion, and will, until our whole inner being is saturated by Him and we are conformed to His image.

Lord Jesus, grow in us today. Cause us to grow and mature in the life of Christ a little more today. Grant us today’s portion of grace, dear Lord, so that we may grow in life unto maturity. We do not want to remain babes in the Lord, infantile Christians who are not able to comprehend the deeper revelation in God’s word. Oh Lord, grant us to see a vision of Your eternal economy. We want to participate in Your economy. We want to grow unto maturity so that Christ may be formed in us and we would be conformed to the image of Christ. Amen, Lord, may all believers in Christ seek the growth in life unto maturity day by day! Grow in us little by little, day by day. Save us from not growing in life. Spread into our mind, emotion, and will, and saturate and fill our entire inward being with Yourself until Christ is formed in us!

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 the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1955, vol. 2, pp. 485-492, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 ICSC), week 2, entitled, Making ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming by Growing in Life unto Maturity.
• Further reading on this topic:
  – Conformed to the Image of God’s Firstborn Son (2), article via New Jerusalem.
  – Christ Being Formed in Us, article via, Living to Him.
  – Christ being formed in us and Christ being magnified always, a portion from, The Crucified Christ, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
  – The personal and intimate experience of Christ, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Is Christ being formed in you? Read more via, Holding to Truth.
  – 8 Verses that Show Jesus Christ Lives in You, via, Bibles for America Blog.
  – Growing up into the Head, Christ, in all things, a portion from, The Organic Union in God’s Relationship with Man, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – The word of righteousness – the warnings in the book of Hebrews (via Affirmation and Critique).
• Hymns on this topic:
  – By the power of His Spirit / In His pattern He transforms; / From His glory to His glory / To His image He conforms. / He transforms, all sanctifying, / Till like Him we are matured; / He transforms, our soul possessing, / Till His stature is secured. (Hymns #750 stanzas 4-5)
  – In His life’s rich flowing / Man will be transformed / Into precious substance / And to Him conformed. / Thus will man be builded / As His counterpart, / Thus to be His dwelling, / Satisfy His heart. (Hymns #971 stanza 3)
  – By Thy life and by its flowing / I can grow and be transformed, / With the saints coordinated, / Builded up, to Thee conformed; / Keep the order in the Body, / There to function in Thy will, / Ever serving, helping others, / All Thy purpose to fulfill. (Hymns #840 stanza 2)