After we have been under God's dealing for some time, we are so willing to be conformed to Christ's death in everything. To us Christians there should be no thought of revenge or avenging ourselves. We do not want to remember others' mistakes. To forgive and forget others' mistakes is the conformation to the death of Christ. We do not like to blame others. When we blame others, regardless of how right we are, we do not have the peace.

We want to be conformed to the death of Christ, and we can be such persons only by the hidden power of resurrection. We cannot see this hidden power in David in many of the psalms. In many of the psalms, David was strong in remembering others' mistakes. He even enumerated to God all the afflictions and mistreatment he suffered from his enemies and asked God to deal with them (Psa. 31:9-13; 35:1-8; 36:1-4, 11-12).

If we would go to the Lord to tell Him all the mistreatment we suffered from our enemies, we would become dead inside. Instead, we have to follow the Lord's word where He said, "You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become sons of your Father who is in the heavens, because He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what better thing are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:43-48). We can be perfect like our Father because we have been born of Him. We have His life and His nature. This is the New Testament teaching.

Today we are mysterious people. Outsiders cannot understand us because we have a desire to be conformed to Christ's death. Furthermore, we have the capacity within us to do this, and this capacity is the power of resurrection. Even nature itself testifies to the fact of resurrection. Within a small seed there is not only life but also resurrection. If that seed falls into the earth and dies, a sprout will eventually rise up from underneath the earth. That is the power of resurrection. We are like small seeds. The more we are put into death, the more we have the expression of the power of resurrection. This is why we like to forgive people and forget their mistakes.

In a proper sense, we want to suffer loss so that we can gain Christ (Phil. 3:7-8). There are some hymns in our hymnal which speak about loss and gain (see Hymns, #631 and #635—stanzas 15 and 16). Loss and gain is the significance of the cross. The cross is a means to bring us loss and then gain. To live and walk under the crucifixion of Christ is to be conformed to Christ's death by the mysterious power of resurrection. Just as life and resurrection are hidden within a seed, Christ as life and resurrection is hidden within us. Within us we have Christ as our life and resurrection.