We may understand this doctrinally, but we need to practice taking Christ as our person. When we are going to the department store, we should realize that we are not the person. We should not make a decision. We should not make a choice. We have to say, "Lord, I am not the person. You are my person. Lord, do You want to go to the department store today?" We may feel that the Lord is going with us. But we should say, "Lord, if You are going with me, I don't like this. I like to go with You. If You go, I go. It should not be that if I go, You go. It has to be—if You go, I go." The Lord may then impress us that He is not going. If He is not going, we should not go.
The sisters should follow the Lord in their shopping. A sister may feel that the Lord went and she followed. When she gets into the department store, she may find something very attractive which is on sale. At this point she should check with the Lord, "Lord Jesus, I want to buy this, but do You want to buy it? If You buy it, I will follow You." The Lord may respond, "I would never buy this." Then the sister may say, "Lord, what shall I do?" The Lord would then tell her to go back home. This is what it means to take Christ as our person. If a sister practices this, she is a new man. Otherwise, she may be labeled a new man, but she is still old. Shopping is a big test to show us what we are and where we are.
When I lived in mainland China, I wore a long Chinese gown according to the custom of dress in China. When I came out of mainland China, I needed to change the way I dressed to the western style. I discovered what an exercise it is to dress as a member of the new man. It was not easy to buy a necktie. As I went shopping for a necktie, I took the Lord as my person, and I had to drop so many of the ties I looked at. The Lord impressed me, "If you wear this tie, you cannot speak on the platform." This shows that we have to take Christ as our person in all the details of our daily life.
Saints, are we really a new man? If we are, we have to live a life not only with Christ as our life but also with Christ as our person. Sometimes I have expressed something to my children in myself. After that I was rebuked by the Lord. The Lord impressed me that although I was a father, I was also a new man. For a new man to be a father, he must be a father in the "new man way." The children may be naughty, but a father should not respond to their naughtiness in himself. A father must be a "new man father." "A new man father" should act as a new man, taking Christ as his life and taking Christ as his person as well. The church must act as a new man. Maybe some of the leading ones in the churches argue, quarrel, and debate; that is not the new man. The leading ones should pray and fellowship together as a new man, taking Christ as their life and taking Christ also as their person. This is altogether through the cross and unto the resurrection life.
Resurrection is our home. Resurrection is Christ to be the sphere where we should stay. Then we can bear the responsibility of the church. Then we can serve God and serve the saints through the cross and in resurrection. If we live in this way, we will grow up into Christ, the Head, in all things. We can then take the lead in the church as a new man reconciled to God. Then God is living Himself out of the church. The church as the Body of Christ is the new man, taking Christ as the life and as the person.