THE HEAVENLY VISION WEEK 2 The Vision of Christ Morning Nourishment John 5:39-40 You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. Col. 2:18 Let no one defraud you by judging you unworthy of your prize, in self-chosen lowliness and the worship of the angels, dwelling on the things which he has seen, vainly puffed up by his mind set on the flesh. We love something not because we are capable of loving; rather, it is because a certain thing is lovable and we are drawn to love it. We are very reluctant to love something that is not lovable, but it is difficult for us to refrain from loving something that is lovable. Likewise, we love the Lord because we are attracted by His loveliness. He is very attractive. In the past two thousand years, innumerable people have been attracted and charmed by Him, and we are among them....This Christ who is full of attractiveness and rich in magnetism is the essence of the Bible. The Bible covers thousands of items and deals with a great number of doctrines, but it has only one center—Christ Himself. (The Four Crucial Elements of the Bible—Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church, pp. 51-52) Today’s Reading We need to apply the matter of experiencing Christ as the reality of every positive thing to every part of our daily life. As we eat our meals, we should take Christ as the real food. Instead of saying a word of grace in a traditional way, we should speak something higher according to the revelation in Colossians: “Lord Jesus, I do not simply thank You for this food and take it into me. Lord, I take You as the reality of this food.” We who believe in Christ should consider all things and evaluate all things according to Christ, who is everything to us in a practical way. If we consider all things according to Christ, our daily living will be changed. It is significant that after speaking of Christ as the body of the shadows, Paul goes on to say, “Let no one defraud you by judging you unworthy of your prize” (Col. 2:18). According to the context, the prize is the enjoyment of Christ as the body of the shadows. The enjoyment of Christ is truly a prize. According to 1:26, the word of God completed through the ministry of Paul was “the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations but now has been manifested to His saints.” This mystery is Christ in us, the hope of glory (v. 27). Although we may have considerable knowledge of the Bible, we do not have the completion of the divine revelation unless we adequately experience Christ daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly....If we are short in the experience and enjoyment of Christ, we are also short concerning God’s revelation. His revelation needs the experiential Christ as its completion. In Paul’s word about shadows we have a hint as to how we may enjoy Christ in a practical way. Since such things as eating and drinking are shadows of which Christ is the substance and reality, we need to be reminded whenever we eat and drink that the real food and the real drink are Christ. When you eat your food, you should simultaneously eat Christ. When you drink some beverage, you should also drink Christ. As you put on your clothing, you should be reminded that Christ is the real clothing, and you should experience Him as such. As you put on your material clothing, you should also put on Christ. It is easy to enjoy Christ in this way. Whatever we do day by day should remind us of Christ as the reality of that thing. Even our breathing should remind us of the necessity of breathing Christ spiritually. If we follow the practice of taking Christ as the reality of all the material things in our daily life, our daily walk will be revolutionized and transformed. It will be full of Christ... Everything we do will remind us to contact Christ, to enjoy Christ, to experience Christ, and to have Christ as our everything. To practice this day by day is truly to enjoy Christ. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 296-297, 481, 483-485) Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 35, 55; The Mystery of God and the Mystery of Christ, ch. 2; The Heavenly Vision, ch. 1 Enlightenment and inspiration
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 07:34:11 +0000
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