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Concerning the matter of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ versus culture, we need to see that according to the full revelation in the Bible, God’s intention is to work Himself in Christ into His chosen, redeemed, and regenerated people—Gal. 1:15-16; 2:20; 4:19:
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God’s central work, His unique work, in the universe and throughout all the ages and generations is to work Himself in Christ into His chosen people, making Himself one with them—Eph. 3:17a; 1 Cor. 6:17.
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God’s intention is to thoroughly work Himself in Christ into us, making Himself our inward elements—Eph. 3:11, 16-19.
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For the fulfillment of God’s eternal economy, God needs to build Himself in Christ into our being, building Himself in Christ into us as our life, our nature, and our constitution to make us God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead—2 Sam. 7:12-14a; Rom. 1:3-4; Eph. 3:17a; John 14:23; Col. 3:10-11:
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We need God to build Himself in Christ into our intrinsic constitution so that our entire being will be reconstituted with Christ—Eph. 3:17a.
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Christ builds the church by coming into our spirit and spreading Himself from our spirit into our mind, emotion, and will to occupy our entire soul—Matt. 16:18; Eph. 3:17a.
Morning Nourishment
Eph. 3:17 That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love.Gal. 4:19 My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.
God’s economy is to work the living, all-inclusive person of Christ into us. According to the revelation in the book of Colossians, Christ is the portion of the saints, the Firstborn of all creation, the image of the invisible God, the Head of the Body, the Firstborn from among the dead, the One in whom all the fullness is pleased to dwell, the mystery of God’s economy, the mystery of God, the reality of all positive things, and the constituent of the new man. Christ is everything: He is life, light, power, might, strength, righteousness, holiness, kindness, and every other divine attribute and human virtue. Because Christ is everything to us, He is all-inclusive. God’s intention in His economy is to work this all-inclusive One into us. As the all-inclusive One, Christ has the highest attainments. He has ascended to the heavens and has been exalted to the highest place in the universe. He is now sitting at the right hand of God. Christ has been enthroned, and He has become the Lord and Head over all. Furthermore, He has obtained everything, for all things have become His. This person with all He has attained and obtained is the very One that God desires to work into our being. Do you truly believe that such an all-inclusive living person has been wrought into you? I doubt that very many Christians, including those in the Lord’s recovery, actually believe this. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 330-331)
Today’s Reading
God’s intention is to dispense Christ into us so that He may be our life and our everything. God wants Christ to be our righteousness, holiness, humility, and patience. Since Christ is everything, there is no need for us to decide to do anything or to be anything. Instead, we should simply turn to the Lord and say, “Lord, thank You. You are my life and my everything. You are the real God and the real man. When I need love, You are love. When I need humility, You, Lord, are humility. Whatever I need, You are.”We need to see the heavenly vision that in His economy, God wants nothing except Christ. Christ is wonderful. As the One who is God and man, He has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and enthronement. All that Christ is and all that He has obtained and attained have been compounded into the all-inclusive Spirit. Now as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, He lives in us. How foolish not to give all the ground in our living to Him! Although we may love Him, we may still limit and restrict Him by our efforts to be good Christian husbands or wives. In ourselves, we still try to be humble, patient, kind, and loving. As long as we do this, there is no way for Christ to live in us.
We should forget about trying to be a good husband or wife and care only to live Christ. Let us love Him, contact Him, and be one with Him. How near and available He is! He is within us and is one spirit with us, waiting to be given the opportunity to live in us. If we would give Christ the ground to live in us, we should cease from all our efforts. Instead of asking the Lord to help us in our efforts, we should pray, “Lord Jesus, I can do nothing apart from You. How foolish I have been in trying so hard! Now, Lord, I see the vision that I cannot do anything without You. Lord, I thank You that You dwell in me. I ask You, Lord, to work within me. Lord, I praise You that You are my life and that You are waiting for the opportunity to live in me. Lord, I thank You that I am in You. Now I am willing to give You all the ground to do everything and to be everything in me.” This is what it means for Christ to live in us. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 324-326)
Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 37-39, 41-42, 49-50