Many children of God often consider that to work for the Lord is to be used by Him. It is true that to be used by the Lord is to work for Him, but what does it mean to work for Him? Today by the Lord’s mercy we have clearly seen that working for the Lord is not a matter of how many things we accomplished for Him but of how much of the Lord’s life overflows from us and is imparted through us. Brother Watchman Nee often said, “Genuine work is the overflow of life.” Of course, our work contains an element of accomplishing certain things. However, we do not work for the sake of accomplishing things. Instead, we work that we may overflow the Lord’s life, imparting and ministering the Lord’s life to others, that is, imparting the Lord Himself to others.
Take preaching the gospel as an example. Our work for the Lord in this matter is to lead people to salvation on the one hand and to dispense the Lord’s life into sinners on the other hand. With regard to the edification of the believers, on the one hand, we need to feed them, but on the other hand, our real intention is to dispense the Lord’s life into them more and more. In our fellowship with the brothers and sisters or in our going out to visit the saints, apparently we are helping and establishing people. Actually, if our fellowship and visitations are up to the standard, there should be the overflow of the Lord’s life and the dispensing of the Lord’s life into the brothers and sisters. Even if we simply utter a few words of consolation and encouragement, there should be the overflowing of the Lord’s life into the brothers and sisters. John 7:38 indicates that the Lord’s intention is that we who have the Lord’s life would flow out rivers of living water, the water of life, from within us to minister to the needs of many.
The reason the Catholic Church and the Protestant churches have become a great tree (Matt. 13:32) is that they have many accomplishments and enterprises but lack the life within. In the Catholic Church there are many works and undertakings, but there is hardly any of the element of life. It is the same with many of the Protestant denominations. They have enterprises such as evangelistic missions, schools, and hospitals. However, in all these large-scale works, it is difficult for people to receive any of the element of life. Many times it is the same even among us. Often our activities, services, and works do not have much of the element of life.
A message released from the platform may be convincing and inspiring, but it may not necessarily impart Christ’s life to people. An exposition of the Scriptures may be interesting and enjoyable to people, but it may not necessarily impart Christ’s life to them. On the contrary, a certain brother may stand up in the meeting to give a little testimony. He may lack eloquence and fluency in speech, and it may seem that he is unable to touch people’s emotions. Nevertheless, after his speaking, the listeners have the feeling that something unexplainable, something spiritual, has come into them. It is as if the Lord came into them to touch their deepest parts, although they were not conscious of it. This is the overflow of life into others.
Sometimes when a certain brother stands up in the meeting to speak, his voice is loud and clear, and his words flow smoothly. He is able to arrest the audience’s attention and cause them all to nod their heads in appreciation. However, after he is finished speaking, there is nothing left. This kind of message is like music that does not inspire. It is merely sounding brass and a clanging cymbal (1 Cor. 13:1). After the sounding and clanging are over, there is nothing left, and those who have heard it have not received any life. Sometimes you may go to visit a certain person. While you are sitting before him, he may not say anything, yet you sense that something has entered into you and touched your feelings. If you live by the flesh, the sense he gives you may touch and condemn your flesh. If you love sins and the world, the sense he gives you may touch a particular sin or a particular aspect of the world and even condemn it. On the contrary, you may meet a certain person who speaks a lot, yet not one of his words enters into you and touches your feelings. It seems that everything he says is in vain and useless. The first person did not speak many words to exhort you, but just by a little contact with you, he touched your problem. Although the second person spoke many words and quoted many verses, they had no effect on you. The difference between the two lies in the fact that one is able to impart life to others even though his speaking may not be fluent, while the other is unable to overflow life, although his words are many. Therefore, we have to see that genuine work is the overflow and imparting of life.
It is usually more miserable to be hungry in spirit than to be hungry in the flesh. In some local churches people feel miserable in their spirit when they go to the meetings, whereas in other local churches people sense the presence of the Spirit when they go. This all hinges on whether there is the overflow of life. If we try to convince people merely with doctrines, it will be useless. People can comprehend spiritual things only when they touch life. Therefore, when we touch spiritual matters, the question is, are we touching something of doctrine or of life? One time someone asked a brother, “Can a saved person still be in darkness?” The brother replied, “Are you in the light today?” That person asked a question in the mind, yet the brother answered him in life to touch his inner feeling. Hence, even while we are conversing with others, there is a difference between being in doctrine and being in life.
One time someone said to me, “We cannot say that the five virgins in Matthew 25 are saved ones.” I then asked him, “Are all saved ones wise? Are you wise?” (cf. vv. 1-13). We have to see that constant debating about doctrines is useless. We can solve people’s problems only by touching them in life. Only by the overflow of life can we touch people’s inner being, and once we touch them in this way, something spiritual will enter into them. Therefore, to be used by God is to work for Him, and to work for Him is to overflow God’s life, to dispense God’s life and God Himself, to others. However, before we can dispense God to others, we ourselves must first have God and have life.
We can never flow out what we do not have, what we have not experienced, or what we have not received. We can flow out only what we have first received into us. Therefore, a person who intends to work for God must first let God work in him. Only one who has allowed God to work in him will be able to work for God. This is because a person can experience God only when he allows God to work in him. When he does, God’s life will enter into him through his experiences, and then he will be able to flow out into others the life of God he has received. For this reason, we need to pay a price. To allow God to work in us is to pay a price. One who is not willing to pay this price can only preach doctrines but cannot dispense life to others.
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