By 1935 I had been saved for ten years and was serving the Lord full time. From 1933 to 1935 I spent much time working with Brother Nee in Shanghai. During this time we fought the spiritual battle together. In 1935 I returned to Chefoo to spend the summer, and Brother Nee also went to Chefoo for some rest. Our original intention was to rest that summer, but we eventually held a conference. Brother Nee was burdened to speak concerning Christ in us as the overcoming life. When he spoke, many people’s minds were opened, and a revival was brought in.
Brother Nee had intended to stay in Chefoo that summer and then travel to Europe via Manchuria and Siberia. However, because his speaking about the overcoming life brought in a revival, he cancelled his trip to Europe and returned to Shanghai. This brought the revival to Shanghai and then from Shanghai it spread to Amoy. In addition, from that time onward he began to gradually spread the work of the Lord’s recovery. Therefore, I left my hometown, Chefoo, and went to begin the work in Tientsin and Beijing. However, it was only when I was in Brother Nee’s conference in Chefoo that my mind was opened to understand the matter of Christ in us as life, but even that understanding was not thorough.
By the summer of 1939 Brother Nee had given many messages concerning Christ as life when he visited Europe. These messages were recorded and edited by a British brother and published as The Normal Christian Life. When Brother Nee returned from Europe, he called a conference. At that time I and three to four young brothers were working in the places near the Tsingtao-Tsinan Railway in Shantung Province. When I received Brother Nee’s telegram asking me to attend his conference in Shanghai, I immediately went to Shanghai. I was greatly helped in that conference.
Although Christians say Christ is life, few Christians can say “Christ our life” as Paul did in Colossians 3:4. There are even fewer Christians who go further and touch the secret of Christ as life, and still fewer live by taking Christ as life. Among those in Christianity, there are false Christians. We do not need to speak about these people. There are others who are seeking and who know that Christ is their life, but they may not necessarily touch the secret of Christ as life. Still others have touched the secret of Christ as life, but they have not entered into the stage of daily taking Christ as life and living Christ. Finally, some live by daily taking Christ as life just as Paul, who said, “To me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21), and “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).
In 1949, when we were working in Taiwan, we composed a short hymn for baptism: “Already dead! And buried too! / With the old man I am through! /... No longer I! No longer I! / Christ in me I’ll testify!” (Hymns, #938). On one occasion we baptized over seven hundred people. We baptized people on Saturday night and continued baptizing on the Lord’s Day. On those two days we sang this hymn with every person we baptized; we sang this hymn over seven hundred times. However, according to my observation, the people who were baptized were not “through” after their baptism. Although the hymn says, “I am through!...Christ in me I’ll testify,” none of them could say, “I am through,” nor could they say, “No longer I! Christ in me I’ll testify!” Rather, their condition was the opposite. Therefore, on the one hand, I am glad to see so many young people attending this conference and to know that two to three hundred of the young people have been saved for less than half a year. On the other hand, I am concerned that these young people might not live a life that testifies that “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”