Prov. 29:18a says, Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; we need to see the heavenly vision and be governed by it, even be controlled and directed by it, so that our life may be full of meaning and purpose.
This week in our Crystallization-study of Proverbs we come to the topic of, Living a Godly Life.
The book of Proverbs is full of principles for a proper human living; as believers in Christ, we need to realize that these principles shouldn’t be applied in our natural man but by the spirit in our new man.
As believers, we have the divine life of God received at the time of our regeneration, and we are a new man; however, regardless of how new and how much renewing we need to undergo, we can’t forget that we are still living in our human life.
God didn’t expect us to live in the fallen human life but in His redemption He terminated, crucified our fallen life, our old man, our natural life; in resurrection, He resurrected and uplifted the God-created human life, and He wants us to live by this life.
We as believers in Christ need to live out the divine life that we have received in human life, and we shouldn’t live our fallen human life or try to improve it.
As Paul said in Gal. 2:20, we have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer we who live but Christ lives in us; Christ doesn’t live instead of us but in us, and we live one with Him.
When coming to the book of Proverbs, we are not here learning principles to improve, cultivate, and uplift our human life, even though it may seem that this book is meant for this.
A lot of people, both believers and unbelievers alike, treasure the book of Proverbs because of the words of wisdom contained in it; they take it as a guide to help their natural life and cause it to be better, more elevated.
But we as believers in Christ are a new creation, and we are not here cultivating our fallen, natural human life, but rather, we live by the resurrected human life.
When we live by the divine life in our human life, we will find help in the book of Proverbs; this help is not for us to improve or cultivate our natural life but for us to cultivate the resurrected human life so that we can live a proper godly life, a God-man life on this earth.
What is a godly life? It is not a religious life. It is not even merely a spiritual life. Some people may be so spiritual, but their expression is not Christ living in them.
A godly life is a life that is God-like, a life that expresses God; as Paul said in 1 Tim. 3:16, great is the mystery of godliness, that God is manifested in the flesh.
To live a godly life is not for us to walk slowly, behave in a religious manner, be pious, and do things in a deliberate and religious way.
A godly life, a life of godliness, is a life that expresses God Himself; the only way for this to be our reality is by us living out the divine life in the human life.
May we be those who learn the precious principles in the book of Proverbs not for us to cultivate our natural human life but to cultivate the divine life in us as a new man, a new creation, for us to express God in our daily living.
For us to Live a Life of Godliness we need to see the Heavenly Vision and be Governed and Directed by it
In the matter of living a godly life, a life of godliness, the first thing we need is a vision, even a heavenly vision; we cannot live a godly life, a life that expresses God, without a vision.
We can consider Saul of Tarsus: before he was converted, he was a zealous Pharisee trained under the strictest, top teacher, Gamaliel; he was fervent, zealous to carry out the tradition of his fathers, and he thought he served God.
Saul of Tarsus thought that he was serving God absolutely and whole-heartedly, but he didn’t realize that he was just serving a tradition, a kind of religion, for he was altogether blind.
When the Lord met him on the road to Damascus, the light from the heaven shined on him, knocked him down, and he was made blind; it was at that time, when he was blind humanly speaking, that he began to see the heavenly vision, and he began to live a life under a vision.
He later testified that it pleased God to reveal His Son in him.
We need such an encounter with God; we may not need the bright light and the lack of human sight, but we need to see the heavenly vision so that we would not just live routinely in faithfulness, carrying out some kind of tradition, but we would be governed and kept by the heavenly vision.
When we see the heavenly vision, we cannot be the same; Christ is revealed in us, and we begin to live in another way, desiring that in nothing we would be put to shame but in everything Christ would be magnified in our body.
In the Bible, vision denotes an extraordinary scene, a special kind of seeing, which is a glorious, inward seeing, and to the spiritual scenery that we see from God (Ezek. 1:1, 4-28; Dan. 7:1, 9-10, 13-14).
The heavenly vision is a spectacular sight that we can never forget.
For example, we may go to visit the Grand Canyon and once we are there for a few hours, we will never be the same, for what we see has impressed us to the uttermost.
In order for us to have a vision, we need three things: we need revelation, light, and sight. First, the object to be seen needs to be uncovered; we need to be unveiled, that is, have a revelation.
Then, we need to have the divine light shining on us; we may be uncovered, but if we’re in darkness, we cannot see much.
Furthermore, we need to have the proper sight, for we can’t see the heavenly vision if we are blind if we cannot see.
Paul prayed in Eph. 1 that the eyes of our heart would be enlightened for us to see the heavenly vision; he prayed that we would have a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see the heavenly scenery of Christ and the church.
When we see the heavenly vision, it will govern us, restrict us, control us, direct us, preserve us, revolutionize us, keep us in the genuine oneness, and it will give us the boldness to go on.
Especially in these last days, if we are to live a life of godliness in this age of godlessness, we need to see the heavenly vision and be governed by it.
If we do not have a strong vision to govern us, it will be easy for us to follow along with the tide of this age.
The current of today’s age is so strong; especially with the development of technology, smartphones, apps, social media, Youtube, and the things on the internet, it is so easy to be plugged into this flood of dissoluteness like the rest.
Especially the young ones and the young adults, in this high-tech world today, they are plugged in and involved in social media and technology, being bombarded with these things every day. We need to have a heavenly vision that would control us, restrict us, and direct us.
The Lord’s recovery is not a broadway; it is a narrow path, as the Lord said, the way that leads to life is through a narrow gate and on a constricted way.
It is not easy to take this way, but praise the Lord, we are here today taking this way because we have the heavenly vision and this vision governs us, energises us, even revolutionizing us, keeping us in the church life all these years.
Without such a heavenly vision, it is easy for us to be loose, to live just as the worldlings do, even as everybody else in Christianity does.
May we take this narrow way, the restricted way, by being under the heavenly vision!
Lord Jesus, we desire to live a life of godliness for the expression of God in man. Grant us to see the heavenly vision of Your economy. Enlighten the eyes of our heart, Lord, and give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Christ. Amen, Lord, save us from casting off restraint by having no vision. May the heavenly vision govern us, restrict us, control us, direct us, preserve us, revolutionize us, and keep us in oneness! We give ourselves to You, dear Lord, to be infused with You and to receive the heavenly vision and be governed by it so that we may have the boldness to go on. We choose to enter through the narrow gate and walk on the constricted way of Christ and the church, Your economy!
The Heavenly Vision Motivates us, Energizes us, makes us one with God for His Move, and Directs us toward God’s Destination
When we see the heavenly vision, our entire being has an inward turn; we are changed in thought, concept, and attitude when we see and are governed by the heavenly vision.
This is what happened to Saul of Tarsus; after he had the heavenly vision, he spent three days and three nights without seeing or eating anything, but most likely he was watching the heavenly television, for the Triune God was televising Himself and His purpose into him, causing him to have an inward turn.
He realized that all the things he has been doing up to that point were outward; he was zealous, fervent, powerful, trying to bind, persecute, and put to death the followers of Jesus.
But the heavenly vision caused him to have an inward turn, and he realized that Christ has a Body on earth; he saw the vision of Christ and the church, and he had an inward turn, a change in his thoughts, concepts, and attitude.
When we see the heavenly vision, this vision motivates us, energizes us, holds us, gives us endurance, brings us into the Lord’s up-to-date move, and causes our lives to be full of meaning and purpose (Heb. 1:8; 12:1-2; Eph. 3:11; 2 Tim. 1:9; 3:10; Rev. 1:9; 3:10).
Especially these days, in the last days of this age, as the situation around us is full of turmoil, chaos, confusion, corruption, and degradation, we are here living under the heavenly vision, and our life is full of meaning and purpose.
The Lord didn’t take us to be with Him right after our regeneration; rather, we need to look away unto Him, the Author and Perfecter of our faith who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross and despised the shame. What a Christ!
He endured, and He is infusing Himself into us as we live under the heavenly vision.
Even as we live during this pandemic and the ongoing restrictions outwardly, though there is a vaccine and people are getting vaccinated, we still yearn for the time to come together again to meet, assemble, enjoy the Lord together, and break bread; in all these things we need endurance.
We need to keep the word of the Lord’s endurance; the way we do this is by living a life of godliness under the heavenly vision.
Everyone who serves the Lord must be a person with a vision; the inner vision will revolutionize the way we serve the Lord (Acts 26:13-19; Rom. 1:9).
This vision doesn’t only give us endurance but it also energizes us to the point that we are revolutionized; we undergo a radical change in our daily living.
Under the heavenly vision, we can’t just live according to our habit and do things like the rest; we are open to being changed and adjusted by the heavenly vision so that we may go forward with God.
Under the heavenly vision, we are directed toward God’s destination, and our life is controlled according to God’s economy (Phil. 3:13-14; 1 Tim. 1:4).
Every day, we forget the things which are behind, we stretch forward to the things which are before, and we desire to gain the prize and reach the goal.
Our Christian life is not aimless; we are not aimless Christians trying to survive and maintain ourselves. We are moving toward a destination, which is the New Jerusalem! Amen!
The governing vision of the Bible is the Triune God working Himself into His chosen and redeemed people in order to saturate their entire being with the Divine Trinity for the producing and building up of the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem (Eph. 4:4-6; Rev. 21:2, 9-10).
This governing vision in the Bible is presented to us in the divine revelation in the holy word; it is that the Triune God is working Himself into us, His chosen and redeemed people, to constitute us as His organic Body and consummate the New Jerusalem.
When we see this vision, we will live a life under the governing vision to live a life of godliness, being directed toward God’s destination!
Lord Jesus, we want to live a life under the heavenly vision so that we may be motivated, energized, held, filled with endurance, and brought into the Lord’s up-to-date move! May our daily living and our serving the Lord be under the heavenly vision that revolutionizes us and causes our lives to be full of meaning and purpose! Amen, Lord, may our life be directed toward under God’s destination and be controlled according to Your economy. Praise You Lord for Your desire to work Yourself into us to saturate our entire being with the Divine Trinity for the building up of the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem! May a clear, controlling vision of God’s economy direct our heart and our living until we finish our course all day or until the Lord returns!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The Triune God’s Revelation and His Move,” chs. 1-2, 4, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes (2020 winter training), week 10, Living a Godly Life.
- Hymns on this topic:
– God’s intention is to have us / All conformed to His dear Son; / Thus a work of transformation / By the Spirit must be done. (Hymns #750)
– Oh, may a clear, controlling vision of / The Lord’s economy direct my heart, / And burn in me until my spirit’s wholly set afire! / With spirit strong and active we’ll press on / To consummate God’s goal— / New Jerusalem, Hallelujah! (Song on, God has called us for His purpose)
– God with man completely blended, / Mystery of godliness. / God in glory, full, resplendent, / Man, His dwelling, doth express. / ’Tis a vessel universal / All God’s fulness to express; / All His beauty manifesting, / Mingled with His holiness. (Hymns #976)
