In the past we have spoken much with the saints in many places about peculiarities. There has been much teaching about peculiarities, but there have been few results in our experience. Regardless of how much we talk about dealing with our peculiarity, it seems that people remain the same. The only improvement that can be seen is a certain correction of our behavior. However, no amount of correction is spiritually meaningful. Schools help people to correct their behavior and improve their character. Likewise, the military service helps young men to be adjusted and corrected, but that is not life. What we are teaching in these messages is not correction but the experience of life. The experience of life issues in correction, but this correction comes from living Christ.
The four verses in the Scripture reading above are very crucial for our living of Christ, and the experience of these verses cannot be exhausted. Galatians 2:20a says, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." Romans 6:4 says, "We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into death that as Christ was raised from among the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." After being baptized and rising up from the water, we should walk in newness of life. This newness is not of our natural life but of the divine life which we have received of God. The realm of the divine life is new, and our walk and being should be in the realm of the newness of the divine life. To walk in newness, we do not need to wait for the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, "So that if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, they have become new." The New Jerusalem will simply be the ultimate consummation of the realm of newness, which is Christ.
Christ is the realm and element of newness. In the New Testament, the phrases "in Christ," "in Christ Jesus," "in the Lord," and "in Him" are used many times. To be in Christ is to be in the element and realm of newness, living Christ. Accordingly, the church should be the real New Jerusalem today. However, very few Christians are living in the realm and element of Christ. Instead, we may be trying to live in a "newness" carried out in our natural life. Confucius taught concerning being renewed, and according to his teaching, many learned Chinese consider that they are being renewed. In the Western world also, people who feel they are old desire to be renewed, yet without Christ. This is not walking in the newness of the divine life.
As long as we do not live in the realm of Christ as our newness, whatever we do is our peculiarity, and even we ourselves are peculiarity. When we live, do things, talk to people, and visit people, we should not go too fast. We have to learn to hesitate and ask, "Is this me or is this Christ?" When we are about to make a phone call or converse with a brother or sister, we should hesitate and check whether it is only we who are about to do it. It should be "no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." We should practice and build up a habit of hesitating before we speak. If we learn this lesson, many times we will "swallow" our words and not release them. This does not mean that what we were about to say was wrong; it is simply that it was only we who were about to speak.
If we do not live Christ, if it is not Christ who lives, speaks, and acts through us, whatever we do is a peculiarity. Often our talking on the telephone is a peculiarity. Apparently, talking too much on the telephone is a habit. Actually, it is our peculiar trait. Many times making fewer telephone calls and speaking only briefly on the telephone may help us to be overcomers. However, certain saints make talking on the telephone their amusement and entertainment. This is their peculiarity. Whatever we do or say that is not in the realm of the newness of life is a peculiarity.
We are too strong in our habit. All day we must hesitate and check whether it is we or Christ who is speaking or acting. We must even hesitate when we speak with our husband or wife. We should not think that we can be loose or quick with our spouse. Actually, no one can expose our peculiarity as much as our spouse. We may be very careful with the brothers or our parents, but we may be too free and not hesitate with our husband or wife. This is the reason that there are many separations and divorces. This shows that without living in the realm of newness, which is Christ Himself, we are altogether nothing but peculiarity. If we are going to deal with our peculiarity, we have to deal with our living which is not in the realm of Christ. If we hesitate and check ourselves, our intuition, the inner knowledge in our spirit, will tell us that it is we and not Christ who is living. Then we will stop our doing and speaking. Whenever we check, our spirit will tell us to stop, and all day long we will be "jobless." I have experienced being jobless in this way. When I started to do something, I would hesitate and realize that it was merely I, and I would stop. This kind of inward exercise gives the Lord a way to live through us. Then "it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20a).