Even though we may love the Lord very much and daily take time to pray ourselves into the Spirit, in our actual living we may live in things other than Christ. The Chinese saints may live in their ethics, and the British saints may live in their diplomacy. We live this way automatically and spontaneously. How we need a vision of the excellency of Christ. If we have the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, we shall see that He far surpasses the best national characteristics. We shall know that Christ is far superior to every element of our culture. Only the excellency of the knowledge of Christ will rid us of the influence of all the things that are not Christ Himself.
It is rather easy for us to apply Christ as our peace, joy, and rest. But when we consider higher aspects of Christ, we find them rather difficult to apply. For example, Christ is the mystery of God’s economy. Although we may know Him as the mystery of God’s economy, it is not easy for us to apply Him in this aspect in our daily walk. The gap between such an aspect of Christ and our daily living is extremely great. We also find it difficult to experience Christ as the body, the reality, of all the positive things. There is an urgent need for us to pray concerning this.
Although the light is shining brightly among us, there seems to be too little effect in our daily living. In the meetings, under the shining of the light, we may be impressed with the excellency of Christ, but when we go home after the meeting, we are very much the same. We desperately need to pray that we may see the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. If we have such a knowledge in a real and practical way, all the elements of our human living which are not Christ Himself will be put to death. The excellency of the knowledge of Christ annuls the influence of our national characteristics and domestic philosophy. From my experience I can testify that the excellency of the knowledge of Christ kills all the good things that replace Christ in our daily living.
In 3:10 Paul speaks of the power of Christ’s resurrection. The power of Christ’s resurrection is His resurrection life that raised Him from among the dead (Eph. 1:19-20). Christ’s divine life includes the element of resurrection. Even before He was resurrected, He could say to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). The reality of Christ’s resurrection life is the Spirit. Resurrection is abstract and mysterious; no one can define it. But we can know the Spirit as the reality of resurrection. The Spirit of Christ is the reality of the resurrection of Christ. Thus, where the Spirit of Christ is, there is resurrection. Because this Spirit is now within us, the power of Christ’s resurrection is within us also.
We should not be affected or influenced by the Pentecostal concept that if we fast and pray for a period of time, we shall suddenly be endued with spiritual power. According to this concept, divine power suddenly falls upon those who seek it by prayer and fasting. This is not according to the true spiritual way revealed in the New Testament. According to this spiritual way, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, we are regenerated, and the Spirit is imparted to us and becomes in us the power of resurrection.
We may use a carnation seed to illustrate the way resurrection life is released. Although a carnation seed is very small, it contains the life power capable of producing a carnation plant. Since this life element is already in the seed, there is no need for power to be added to the seed from without. The only thing necessary is that the seed fall into the earth and die. Should the seed pass through death, its shell will be broken, and life will be released, not from on high, but from within the seed.