The church is a corporate entity of life. The characteristics, marvelousness, and intrinsic mystery of the church depend on God’s life. The church is the church because she has God’s life. If life is taken away from the church, the church would become ugly, withered, and dead. All the beauty, power, brightness, and ability of the church come from the fact that the life of God is her inward content. This life is the life of Christ; Christ is God becoming flesh and coming into us through the Holy Spirit to be our life. God’s life is in the Holy Spirit, and this life is the God who was in the beginning and the Creator who existed in the beginning. Through the Holy Spirit, the life in the incarnated God came into us. Thus, we have the life that created the universe and the life that is able to do great things in us. This life is the greatest, highest, and most vital life.
As believers, we have God’s life in us, but we still need to ask about the condition of this life. Is it shallow and small? When a child is little, he may roll and crawl on the floor. He can cry or laugh whenever he wants to cry or laugh. However, an adult may not be allowed to do the same thing. This is because there are varying degrees of life. An adult cannot do as he pleases like a child, because the life in him is mature. In contrast, because the life in a child is immature, he often does as he pleases. This can be compared to an adult having five cubic meters of life and a child having only two cubic meters. Consequently, we need to frequently ask, “How much of the life of God is in us? Are there two cubic meters or five cubic meters?”
In terms of time, God’s life spans from eternity past to eternity future. He is eternal, without beginning and end. In terms of space, the life of God includes the heavens, the earth, and the entire universe. He is omnipresent. This life is too great; it transcends time and space in the universe. Such a transcending, great life is in us. Being a Christian is not a matter of human cultivation but a matter of life. I can testify that often I am not angry, because the life in me is not angry, nor do I argue with others, because the life in me is not arguing. The life in me, which transcends time and space, is so great that it prevents me from losing my temper and arguing with others.
Many people lose their temper because they have only two cubic meters of life. They can remain angry for several months, and their anger cannot subside because they have only a small measure of life. The life in some sisters is only two cubic inches; they have no capacity other than to lose their temper when they encounter certain situations. They have no response other than to lose their temper, because they are short of the growth of life. This is the reason they also criticize others, saying that someone is not good or is wrong. The inward condition of their life is expressed outwardly in their environment. Because it is in the nature of a cat to jump, it will meow if it is forbidden to jump. Such a restriction is the same as taking away its life. What else can a sister with only two cubic inches worth of life do except lose her temper and criticize?
Such a person will not lose only her temper; she will also provoke others to anger, because this is her natural talent. When the measure of life increases in her from being like that of a small cat to that of an elephant, she will spontaneously stop being a “cat” who jumps and cries whenever she wants. As life grows, she will spontaneously stop losing her temper and will be able to be restricted. Thus, a certain kind of life produces a certain kind of result.
After we are saved, we have God’s life within. This life needs to grow in us every day. But exactly how much life do we have? Do we have two cubic meters or five cubic meters? The God whom we know and serve has a great life. This life has a measure beyond that of the universe. Therefore, the life in us is a great matter. The church is the church because of life. The producing of the church depends upon God’s salvation, and God’s salvation depends upon life. After we are saved, we go to meetings, read the Bible, and pray in order to gain more life. If we do not know this life, we are not living as Christians. Our Christian living depends upon experiencing Christ as life.
What is the church? The church consists of Christ, who is the highest life. The content of Christ and the reality of the church depend on Christ as life; this life is God Himself. Now this life has entered into us to become our life. If we know this life, our measure will be enlarged and our view will be uplifted. If we know this life, our human life will have a wonderful, great change.
The great life that entered into us is not concerned with mere gain or loss. This life does not require us to be concerned with whether or not we can work out the good and improve ourselves. This life is both real and weighty in us. Just as God created the universe and everything in it, this life, which is Christ Himself, can do so much work in us. God clothes Himself with us to live and move in us; God created a small universe, a small world, in us, and He put Himself in the first place there. May God be merciful to us so that we would see this vision.