God’s desire is that we who have been redeemed, saved, washed by the blood, and regenerated by the Spirit, and have received the life and nature of God should live Christ. It is not adequate simply to improve our behavior or the standard of our living. In a way that is very experiential and practical, we need to live Christ.
In order to live Christ, we must realize who Christ is and what Christ is. From the book of Colossians we have seen that Christ is not only all-inclusive, but also extensive. He is both the mystery of God and the mystery of God’s economy. Christ is God, man, and the reality of every positive thing in the universe. This, of course, is not pantheism. It is to testify according to Colossians 2:16 and 17 that Christ is the body, the reality, of all positive things.
In Colossians 2:16 and 17 Paul says, “Let no one therefore judge you in eating and in drinking or in respect of a feast or of a new moon or of Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.” According to the principle set forth in these verses, Christ is the real holiday, or holy day. As our holiday, Christ is our rest, joy, and enjoyment. With Christ every day is a holiday. Without Him, every day is miserable. Even during difficult times, we may experience a true holiday if we have Christ as our joy, enjoyment, and rest.
Christ is also our new moon. Again and again we all need a new start, a new beginning, as signified by a new moon. Christ is such a new moon to us. Every day in our contact with Him, we may experience a new moon, a new start.
According to these verses from Colossians, Christ is also our eating, drinking, and feast. Words cannot exhaust what Christ is in His extensiveness and all-inclusiveness. Although Christ is so extensive and all-inclusive, He is our enjoyment and experience, and we can live Him.
Along with all genuine Christians, we believe that Christ is our Redeemer and Savior. He is God incarnate, and He lived on earth as a man for thirty-three and a half years. Then He died on the cross, shedding His blood to cleanse us from our sins. Now He is our Savior in resurrection. Although we emphatically believe that Christ is our Redeemer and Savior and have experienced Him as such, we have come to realize that Christ is also our life. On the one hand, as life He has been supplied once for all; on the other hand, He is supplied to us continually as life. Life requires a continual supply. If we have life but lack the means to maintain it, we shall die. Breathing, for example, is a necessary matter of life. As such, it must go on continually. Although we may graduate from school, we cannot graduate from breathing and remain alive. Graduation from the matters of life can only mean death. We praise the Lord that Christ is our Redeemer, Savior, and also our life and life supply!
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