Never think that Christianity is like asceticism. Do not be mistaken. Do not lower Christianity to the level of asceticism. Let us look at a few stories.
Sadhu Sundar Singh was an Indian who preached the gospel for many years in Tibet. When he was in England he stayed in Keswick for half a year. I stayed in the same place in England once. I was told that the family which hosted him was quite embarrassed. While he was there, the weather was cold, and the family prepared a bed for him. Yet every night he slept on the floor, like a true Indian. However, we must remember that the Bible speaks of a life that can both sleep on the floor as well as on the bed. Many people do not have much within them. They would lose their Christian faith if they slept on a bed. Their Christianity consists of renouncing a bed. As a consequence, they lose their Christian faith when they sleep on a bed. Such heathen thoughts permeate China. We must see what a Christian is. Those who sleep on a bed are Christians, and those who sleep on the floor are also Christians. Those who sleep on a mud floor are Christians, and those who sleep on nice spring mattresses are also Christians. Never pay attention to outward things. Once we pay attention to these things, we will lower Christianity and degenerate its glorious spiritual life into ordinances. We must behold the things in glory and never quibble about the ordinances.
One worker of the Lord who was somewhat inclined towards asceticism became engaged to a sister on a Saturday. Soon after his engagement, I met him and, quite amusingly, he said, “I felt very happy after I preached on the Lord’s Day; I was surprised that I was able to preach after I was engaged.” I asked, “Did you think you could no longer preach after you were engaged?” What kind of thought was this? He thought that his engagement one day would annul his preaching the next day. He was a good brother among us, but asceticism had unconsciously crept in. We must be on the alert and never allow asceticism to come in. There are many glorious things that we should apply ourselves to. Our Lord has resurrected from the dead, and He is now sitting in heaven. The brighter the light within us shines, the smaller other things will become to us. Under the overshadowing of such a great life, all other things become inconsequential.
There was an old pastor who spoke highly of another pastor of Shantung. He told others that this person was wonderful because he left home to preach the gospel on the very day of his marriage. For two months he did not see his wife once. This is nothing but asceticism. If we read the Old Testament, a person cannot be a soldier during the first year of his marriage. The Bible cares much about this period. This has absolutely nothing to do with lust. Christianity is absolutely different from asceticism. Christianity’s emphasis is not on these matters. The kingdom of God is neither eating nor drinking. Eating more or eating less means nothing. The kingdom of God has to do with the power of the Holy Spirit. To be concerned with what one should not eat or touch while being devoid of the power of the Holy Spirit is to be contaminated and captured by the things of the world. We must remember that Paul condemned such practices as sin. In the same way, we should condemn them as sin.
Once two sisters from Shanghai were working in an area north of Yangtze. The weather was cold and they each had an overcoat. Some local ones criticized them, saying, “We doubt whether a woman can still work for the Lord when she has such a nice overcoat on.” Many think that God’s word can be bound by a mere overcoat. They think that once a person puts on a nice overcoat, he will no longer be able to preach. Christianity is not limited by an overcoat. No one should be affected by a mere coat to the point that the whole of his Christianity hinges on it. This is too poor.
Please bear in mind that the Bible does not speak of this kind of suffering. If this were suffering for the kingdom, every rickshaw driver would enter the kingdom because they suffer more than we. We should not bring such concepts into our midst. These heathen thoughts must be excluded from us. Everyone who fears God should be indignant about such thoughts. We should have the feeling that the Lord’s glory is being thrown to the dirt and the dust. We should regard such concepts as a usurpation of the glory of the Lord’s life. I hope that we will pay attention to this matter. Christianity has nothing to do with quibblings about eating and drinking.
If the Christianity we preach consisted of nothing except eating, dressing, clothing, and beds, our preaching of Christianity would be tasteless. It would be the same as what the world preaches. Today I can climb to a mountaintop and shout, “My Christianity is different from your teaching. It has nothing to do with how to dress, how not to dress, what to eat, and what not to eat. It is different from your kind of joy and weeping, from your teaching on using worldly things and not using worldly things. My Christianity transcends everything. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and His glorious life dwell in me. Every day I am raptured to heaven to touch the glory of the throne.” This is what Christianity is all about. All things will pass away and vanish before our eyes when God magnifies the greatness of these positive things to us. May we all see that Christians are not ascetics; they live a flexible life, because He who is in us is so great and so glorious.