Colossians 2:6-7 says, “As therefore you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, having been rooted and being built up in Him.” In this short sentence, there are two significant verbs: “received” and “walk.” As you have received Christ, walk in Him. The phrase “walk in Him” is not so simple. We walk, not with Him or according to Him, but in Him. To walk is to live, to act, to behave, and to have our being. Although the words mentioned in these verses are simple, the thought conveyed reveals many mysteries which are difficult to understand. We may know these simple words, yet we must ask whether or not we have the experience revealed here. What does it mean in our experience to walk in Him, having been rooted and being built up in Him? We need to be those who walk in Christ, live in Christ, and move in Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 1:30 Paul says that it is of God that we are in Christ Jesus. Moreover, Paul says that Christ was made wisdom to us from God including three important items in God’s salvation: righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Righteousness refers to salvation including the regeneration of our spirit. This is something which transpired in the past. Sanctification refers to the transformation of the soul (Rom. 6:19, 22). This is something for the present. Redemption, which is something for the future, refers to the transfiguration of our body (Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:21). Thus, in the past we have had our spirit regenerated through the righteousness of God which is Christ Himself, we are presently in the process of the transformation of our soul, and in the future we will have our body transfigured.
All of these aspects of Christ must be realized by us in our experience. There is a real shortage of the practical enjoyment of Christ among the Lord’s children. We all must realize what Christ is today. According to 1 Corinthians 15:45b, Christ today is the life-giving Spirit. He surely is our Savior, Lord, and Master. But we should also realize that if He were not the life-giving Spirit, He could not be subjective to us, realized by us, or enjoyed by us. Christ as the life-giving Spirit does not refer to who Christ is, but to what Christ is. He is the life-giving Spirit. If we are to enjoy Christ, to experience Christ in a practical and real way, we have to know and realize that Christ is such a Spirit. As the Spirit, He is waiting for us to contact Him.
On the one hand, 1 Corinthians says that God has made Christ wisdom to us: righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1:30). On the other hand, this same book tells us that Christ became a life-giving Spirit (15:45b). The practical way for us to enjoy this Christ is to realize that He is such a living Spirit waiting for us to contact Him. First Corinthians also tells us that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (6:17). He is the life-giving Spirit dwelling in our human spirit, and these two spirits have been mingled together as one spirit (John 3:6; 4:24; Rom. 8:16). We must contact Him by our spirit which has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit (John 3:6). We have a regenerated human spirit with which to contact Christ as the life-giving Spirit.
We need to exercise our spirit (John 4:24) to contact, enjoy, and experience Christ day by day and at all times. Let me illustrate. Suppose as a brother, you have certain weaknesses, such as a bad temper or pride. How could you enjoy Christ to overcome these weaknesses? If you could lose your temper, this proves that you are out of Christ already. Because you are out of Christ, you have this problem. If you remain in Christ, the problem is over. In order to enjoy Christ as the victory over your weakness, you must keep yourself in Him. To pray that He would help you to overcome certain points is ineffectual. We must always watch and pray to keep ourselves in Christ by turning ourselves to the spirit. It is so simple. Turn yourself to the spirit, to your own spirit, your human spirit, in which the Holy Spirit dwells. If we would be normal Christians, we must keep ourselves all the time in the spirit. When you are in the spirit, you are one with Christ, one spirit with the Lord. In the New Testament, especially in the Epistles, we are told many times to do many things by the spirit, such as to walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25), to walk according to spirit (Rom. 8:4), to pray in spirit (Eph. 6:18), to serve in spirit (Rom. 1:9; 12:11), and to be filled in spirit (Eph. 5:18). To keep ourselves in the spirit does not refer only to the Holy Spirit but also to our human spirit which has been mingled with the Holy Spirit to be one spirit. Our problem is that we are often out of this mingled spirit trying to do something apart from the Lord. Check your experience. When we are in spirit, we view things one way, and when we are out of the spirit, we view the same things differently. When we are in spirit, we have one understanding, but outside of the spirit we have another understanding.
Home | First | Prev | Next