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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Gal. 2:20
Our knowledge of Christ is completely based upon God’s revelation; that is, what we see of Christ is based on God’s revelation. God’s revelation may be big or small. God’s revelation to Paul was big (2 Cor. 12:7), but His revelation to us often comes little by little (Eph. 1:17).
When we are saved, we receive the life of Christ because Christ enters into us to be our life (Col. 3:4). All who are saved have a love for God, even if it is just a little. Similarly, all who live before God consecrate themselves, even if it is just a little. Whether or not we are clear about our salvation, we experience a certain degree of consecration to God and have a heart that loves God. Such a heart comes spontaneously from the life of Christ.
Once we have a heart that loves God, God has an opportunity to shine on us. Most of us gain God’s shining little by little. A few, like Paul, experience a tremendous shining from God all at once (Acts 9:3; 26:13). We receive this shining little by little based upon the degree of our cooperation with God’s operation in us. If our love for God and our willingness to cooperate with Him are great, He will have many opportunities to shine upon us. Conversely, if our love for God and our willingness to cooperate with Him are small, His opportunities to shine upon us will be limited. When we consecrate ourselves to God, we must give ourselves to Him and be willing for His will to be carried out in us. God happily accepts our consecration, even if we have only a small amount of willingness. Even if we have taken no action toward God, a small amount of willingness is important because God’s shining and revelation depend upon our cooperation.
Many newly saved believers are not clear about the matters of shining and seeing. They assume that we are referring to light that we can see with our physical eyes. God’s shining and our seeing, however, are actually God’s revelation and our understanding. In other words, they are the result of God’s operation in us. When God operates in us, we will have a particular inward sense. This operating is God’s shining, and the sense that comes from this operation is our seeing. For example, when God’s righteousness operates in us, and we care for the sense of His righteousness that arises within us, we will see our unrighteousness. This sense of God’s operation in us arises from our consecration before God. In the operation of God’s righteous life within us, we see our unrighteousness and turn from our unrighteousness. Our submission to God’s righteousness will bring in a further consecration, and God will shine further for our deeper seeing. We will have more shining and more spiritual growth if we obey God’s operation little by little in this way. A Christian follows the Lord not by outward doings but by inward submission, not by an outward improvement of behavior or an adherence to regulations but by an inward submission to God’s operation.
Since we have God’s life, we have God’s righteousness, sanctification, and redemption and all His other riches. If we allow Him to operate in us continually, we will have many experiences of His life. When we are saved, we receive the seed of God’s life, but we have to give this seed the opportunity to grow. Therefore, we need consecration. Consecration is to submit to God, to afford Him the opportunity to work freely in us. After a Christian is saved, consecration is the most important step in following the Lord.
Many of us have a misunderstanding regarding consecration. We regard consecration as offering up ourselves in order to live for the Lord, but we do not see clearly what it means to live for the Lord. We think that living for the Lord is to do God’s will, to work for God, and to please God. But what is God’s will, and what is the work that God desires? God does not desire our consecration so that we would do something for Him. God has no need for us to do anything for Him. Living for the Lord does not mean accomplishing certain things for Him. In contrast, we must first die in order to live for the Lord. If we cannot die, we cannot live for the Lord (Gal. 2:20). Accomplishing something for God is different from the death that God desires for us. God does not want us to do anything for Him.
We are vessels to contain God. God’s unique purpose is to add Himself into us as His vessel. However, it is difficult for God to come into us freely, because we have our own mind, emotions, and will; that is, we have our own opinions, preferences, and choices. These hinder God from coming into us. In order for God to enter into us, He needs our cooperation. Our cooperation is our consecration. Consecration is to hand ourselves over to God, disregarding everything of ourselves and fully surrendering ourselves to Him, allowing Him to enter freely to do His work. Consecration does not involve our working for God but God’s working in us, just as living for the Lord does not involve doing something for the Lord but allowing the Lord to live in us.
Allowing God to come into us to work is to allow God’s life to operate in us. Every time we submit to God and consecrate ourselves, He is able to operate in us. When we have a further submission and consecration, God will operate further. In such a way, God’s life will continue to operate until our mind, emotion, and will and all that is of our self and soul are fully touched. When the life of God operates freely in us, we will advance in the Christian life. Living for the Lord is to allow the Lord to live in us in this way.
Generally speaking, in the Christian experience the operation of God’s life is in three stages. The first stage deals with unrighteousness. God wants us to see and deal with unrighteousness. The length of this stage depends on our submission and faithfulness. The more we submit, the faster we will advance and the shorter this stage will be. Without submission, the length of this stage will be prolonged.
The second stage deals with unholiness. The things of the world are unholy, but God’s life is eternally sanctified and separated unto holiness. As Christians, we must be separated from all that is worldly. Christians must allow the Lord to deal with worldly entertainment, enjoyment, speech, adornment, clothing, and other things. In this stage God will use our consecration to show what is unholy so that we can be separated from it. This is the stage of sanctification in the Christian life. Being separated unto holiness is more advanced than dealing with unrighteousness, but it does not necessarily come only after dealing with unrighteousness. After we receive the forgiveness of sins, we will need to deal with both unrighteousness and unholiness at the same time.
The third stage of the Christian life in following the Lord involves deliverance from the self. The self refers to our views and ways; it is our person. Everything of the soul is related to the self. The self hinders God’s grace; that is, it hinders God from moving in us. The self frustrates God from gaining us and frustrates us from gaining God. In this stage we will fear our humility and meekness more than our pride and temper. The self is present in all of us, and if we bring this self into the church, we will see the self as the greatest enemy to God’s life. In the first two stages, we may encounter situations that are difficult to handle — sometimes dealing with unholiness is much more difficult than dealing with unrighteousness — but for the most part we can overcome. However, during the third stage God’s life touches our self for the first time, and in this stage God actually touches our person. The self is the greatest hindrance to God’s work, and it must be broken. Thus, this stage in God’s work is the most difficult. In the first two stages we can experience some progress after a certain amount of time. Whether it is three months, five months, half a year, or a year, we will eventually advance. The matter of being delivered from the self, however, requires a lifetime to experience.
The most difficult obstacle to be delivered from is the self. The self is centered on what we are, and it always demands that others be the same as we. We want others to be the same as we are because we measure other people according to our view of ourselves. This is the activity of the self, and it is the hardest thing — yet also the most important — that a Christian should be delivered from.
To be delivered from the self, we must allow our self to be broken. It is good to submit to God’s operation, but if we hinder God’s moving in us by not caring for His will or by having other choices or goals, His hand will be upon us. As God’s life leads us forward, there will come a period for the breaking of the self.
The self of a mature Christian has been broken before the Lord. This kind of Christian does not measure others according to the “ruler” of his self. He is not befuddled or unclear. This is the Christian path. In order to live for the Lord, we must be this way; that is, we must die so that the self can be broken. This is the way of the cross. Without applying the effectiveness of the cross, it is impossible to follow the Lord. If our self is broken so that we can follow the Lord, we will come to a point where we can touch God Himself.
