The fourth point in the apostle Paul’s line of thought is that Christ is our life. In the past we may have realized that Christ is our life, but did we realize that the Christ who is our life is such a Christ? This Christ, who is so much to God, to the old creation, and to the new creation, is our life. This is why we must walk in Him, live in Him, take hold of Him, and beware of being captured away from Christ by anything else. This world is full of thieves, robbers, and enemies, all trying their best to make us a prey and to capture us away from Christ. In this book these things do not refer to bad things but to many good things, such as philosophy, human knowledge, and human wisdom. History tells us of one group of people who put a very high value on philosophy. These people are known as the Gnostics. They appreciated Greek literature, Greek philosophy, and Persian thought very much. These items may seem to be very good from the perspective of human ethics, but they are enemies of Christ. All these things will make us prey, capture us, and carry us away from Christ. This is why we must hold fast to Christ as our life.
When I was very young, around eleven or twelve years of age, I studied at an elementary school established by the Baptist mission. Then I went to a college that had been started by the American Presbyterian mission. As a result of attending these two schools, I met many missionaries. My impression of them was that nearly all of them appreciated the teachings of Confucius very much. Once I heard one of them say, “The teachings of Confucius correspond with the teachings of the New Testament.” The teachings of Confucius may appear to be good, but actually they are enemies of Christ, capturing people and carrying them away from Christ.
During the time that I attended the Presbyterian college, every weekday from eleven thirty to twelve noon we had what was referred to as “chapel time.” During this time someone would give a sermon, and we would listen. Of all the sermons that I heard, I never heard a single one that told us how to practice taking Christ as our life or how to experience Christ as our life. Instead, we heard only teachings. These teachings were substitutes for Christ and enemies of Christ. All of the teachings were good, fundamental, and scriptural, but they were enemies of Christ because they kept those who heard them away from Christ.
We all must realize that Christ is a living person. He is the image of the invisible God, the center of the whole universe, the Head over all things, and a real person to be our life. Our concern should not be with doctrines or teachings but with this living person. We must deal with, contact, and fellowship with this living Christ moment by moment. We are not here just to learn His teachings; we are here to learn how to live in Him, with Him, by Him, and through Him. Christ is a living person to be our very life. We are here to learn how to take Him as our daily life. This is the apostle’s thought in telling us that Christ is our life.
After revealing that Christ is our life, the apostle makes this very practical. He writes, “Let no one therefore judge you in eating and in drinking or in respect of a feast or of a new moon or of the Sabbath” (Col. 2:16). All these items—eating, drinking, feasts, a new moon, and the Sabbath—are all good things. No one can live without eating and drinking; everyone likes to enjoy a happy day of feasting; everyone likes a new moon, which represents a new beginning with new hope; and everyone likes to have rest, which is typified by the Sabbath. After listing all these positive items, the apostle goes on to say, “Which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is of Christ” (v. 17). Paul’s thought here is that all these things are just a shadow, the reality of which is Christ Himself. Christ is our real food, our real drink, our real time of feasting, our real new beginning, and our real rest. Thus, the way to experience Christ as our life in our daily life is to take Him as all these items.
To illustrate how we can take Christ as so many things in a practical way, I would like to share with you the following testimony. I believed in the Lord over forty years ago. At that time the Chinese New Year was very important to the Chinese people. The custom was that everyone would rise up early in the morning (some even did not sleep the night before), put on new clothing, and begin to do many things to celebrate the New Year. I also participated in many of these things until around two years after I had been saved. After I had been saved for around two years, when the New Year arrived, I no longer had the heart to enjoy all those things. My heart was wholly on the Lord.
Before I went to bed the night before the first day of the New Year, I spent much time studying the Scriptures. When I went to sleep that night, I was so happy and full of joy, and the next morning when I rose up, right away I knelt down to pray. The moment I knelt down, I was full of the feeling that the Lord was with me. The Lord’s presence was so near to me, and the Lord seemed so sweet to my heart. While I continued kneeling in prayer, my mother came to my room and said to me, “Come and put on your new clothes.” At that time I was still under my mother’s hand, so I went to my mother’s room where she had laid out a complete set of new clothes for me. After putting on all the new clothes, I went back to my room and knelt down to pray again. This time, however, the Lord was gone. According to my feeling, the Lord was far away from me. I simply could not pray, and I knew that something was wrong with my new clothes.
After some time I got back up and returned to my mother’s room. I said to her, “Mother, I am sorry, but I have to take off these new clothes.” When my mother heard this, she looked at me and asked, “Are you mad? What are you saying?” I answered her, “Please forgive me, but I simply cannot wear these new clothes.” Then I went and took off all the new clothes, put my old clothes back on, and returned to my room to pray once more. When I knelt to pray, my eyes were filled with tears, and once again I sensed the full presence of the Lord. Through this experience, I learned that from that day on I should no longer celebrate New Year’s Day.
After I stopped celebrating New Year’s Day, several times my friends came to me and said, “We feel so sorry for you. You never celebrate New Year’s Day, and you never go to the movies.” When they said things like this to me, I would answer them, “I feel even more sorrowful for you. There is no need for you to be sorry for me. Every day is a New Year’s Day to me, because I have Christ. I do not need a feast day, because every day is a feast to me, and every day is a good time to me. I also do not need to go to movies, because Christ is my pleasure. Do not be sorrowful for me; just be sorrowful for yourself. I have Christ, and He is everything to me.”
By telling us that Christ can be all these things to us, the apostle Paul gave us a practical way to experience Christ as our life. Christ is the real food, the real drink, the real feast, the real new moon, and the real Sabbath. Christ is also the real light. If we do not have Christ as our light, then we are in darkness. We should tell people, “If you do not have Christ as your clothing, then you are naked. Your clothing is merely a shadow. Christ is our real covering.” This should not be merely a doctrine to us. This must be our actual experience. All positive things are but a shadow. Christ is the reality, and by taking Him as the reality of all these things, we can have the practical experience of Christ as our life.
The book of Colossians reveals that as the mystery of God, Christ is everything. As the Son of God’s love, the image of the invisible God, and the One in whom God’s fullness dwells, Christ is everything to God. As the Firstborn of creation, the One in whom, through whom, and unto whom all things were created, and the One in whom all things cohere, Christ is everything to creation. Finally, as the Firstborn of resurrection and the Head of the Body, Christ is everything to the new creation, the church. Colossians also unveils that Christ is our life and the reality of every positive thing in the universe. Since Christ is so rich and all-inclusive, we need to experience and enjoy Him every day.