We should pursue to know how Christ, in whom is all the fullness of the Godhead, comes into us to be our life. Our pursuit today should not be concerned with how to be fervent, how to do good, or how to be determined; it should be concerned with how to know more about Christ being our life. We must be able to differentiate between our zeal and Christ, between our goodness and Christ, between our love and Christ. Many times when we see a brother who is zealous, well-behaved, and full of love, we think that such zeal, goodness, and love are what God wants. This view is quite problematic. We have to see that what God wants us to know, pursue, and live out is not any of these things but rather Christ Himself.
We must pass through the cross to live out Christ. If we want to have Christ as our life and to have Him live out of us, we have no other alternative but to pass through the cross. To live out our zeal and our love, however, we do not have to go through the cross; we can live them out simply by our natural life. These things are natural and human; they are not Christ. The only way for a person to live out Christ is to go through the cross.
There is absolutely no room at the cross for our natural life. We have often discussed the matter of our natural life. We need to know, however, that only when a person has passed through the cross and allowed Christ to be his life, can he truly be one who knows the natural life. These two, our natural life and Christ as life, cannot exist together at the same time. We must see that the cross has terminated our natural life, on the one hand, and released Christ as our life, on the other. Whenever we live by our natural life, Christ’s life is bound. Whenever we experience the cross, our natural life is eliminated and Christ’s life is released.
Therefore, we should not pay attention to such things as how to improve ourselves and how to do more good deeds and be more zealous. Rather, we should pay attention to asking ourselves in everything we do whether what we are doing is of Christ or of our natural life, whether we are living by Christ or by ourselves. We need to take heed to this way in spiritual things and also in the small things in our daily life. Even when we come to read the Word, we should ask ourselves, “Are the things that I am receiving from the Word causing the growth of Christ’s life in me, or are they nourishing my natural life?” This is a solemn question. It is the case that with some brothers and sisters, their natural life becomes more prevailing even through their reading of the Word. They often have and hold strongly to their views concerning biblical truths. When they meet others who have opposite views, they engage them in strong debates and even quarrel with them. When you contact these ones, you cannot sense that Christ is life to them to any significant extent. Therefore, even in the matter of reading the Bible we need to go through the cross.
In the beginning in the garden of Eden there were two trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In every matter there are also these two trees. In our Christian life we have the possibility of contacting either the tree of life or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Even while we are fellowshipping and talking with others about the things of the Bible, there is the possibility of contacting the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, we have to beware of the stratagems of the evil one. He exploits every crack or loophole he can find. He even tries to sneak into the mutual fellowship of the believers so that unconsciously they are distracted from life and end up touching the things that are outside of life.
Brothers and sisters, the great mystery in God’s heart is Christ and the church. If we have seen this vision, we will not pay attention to or pursue anything outside of Christ and the church. Then we will always be preserved. We will say only this much concerning Christ as our life.