The traditional concept in Christianity is that God wants us, the saved ones, to be good, to be spiritual, and to be holy, but there is no concept that God wants us to be God-men. When God became flesh and came to earth, He was both God and man, a wonderful God-man, having both divinity and humanity. As for us, we are not only created by Him, but we have Him begotten into us, so that every one of us has God’s life and nature, and we are now God’s children (2 Pet. 1:4). Therefore, as those begotten of God, we are all God-men.
My burden is to show you clearly that God’s economy and plan is to make Himself man and to make us, His created beings, “God,” so that He is “man-ized” and we are “God-ized.” In the end, He and we, we and He, all become God-men. Hence, it is not enough for us to be good men, spiritual men, or holy men. These are not what God is after. What God wants today is God-men. God does not expect us to improve ourselves, because God is not after our being good men. He wants us to be God-men. He is our life and everything to us for the purpose that we would express Him and live Him out.
When God created us, He created us according to His image and after His likeness. We are like a picture, which has His image, but is without His life. After we are regenerated, this picture becomes the “real” person, having His life and nature, and being the same as He is. He is God “man-ized,” and we are man “God-ized.” In the end, the two become one, both being God-men. This is the divine revelation of the Bible.
For this reason, we have to exercise ourselves to be God-men. To improve oneself is worth little. God is not here to improve man, but to beget man. God begot us so that we can receive His life and nature and can grow in His life. When God grows within us, we grow (Col. 2:19). In order for God to increase within us, we have to exercise our spirit, because every proper thing that goes on between God and man depends on the spirit. The more we exercise our spirit, the more God operates and increases within us. As a result, we grow up to become genuine God-men. This is what God is after.
(A message given by Brother Witness Lee in Sib, Malaysia on October 27, 1990)
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