PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

Expressing Christ in Human Life

The Lord uses our family to teach us many valuable lessons, particularly how to live a life that expresses Christ. To express Christ in our family life is not easy. Sometimes, even though we may be very exercised to live Christ in the church life, we may "take a vacation" from our spirit and live entirely by our natural life in our homes. Or we may live a very "spiritual life" yet be very much lacking in the expression of Christ in practical human affairs. God's purpose is to be expressed in the living of normal people in normal families doing normal things in coordination with the indwelling Spirit. A brother once used the term "miraculous normality" to describe how wonderful it is for a brother or sister to express Christ in his or her married life!

In this issue of Parenthood, we revisit the issue of living a normal human life with a particular focus on persevering in prayer, walking in wisdom, and redeeming the time as portrayed by the apostle Paul in the book of Colossians. In our daily life, especially in the relationships in our homes and families, we are charged to live in such a way that we are an expression of Christ. It may be that when we hear such a charge, we become convicted and condemned knowing that all our attempts to live in such a manner have resulted in failure. Yes, we should address our wife, husband, and children in love with speech that is full of grace and seasoned with salt, but instead, our words are often full of self-pitying complaints, self-centered petulance, or irritable rebukes. How can we escape from the imprisonment of a soul that is still plagued with the influence of the fallen human nature into the realm of life and light? Paul's answer in Colossians 4:2-6 is to pray!

In this regard, Witness Lee writes, "As we spend time to consider the revelation of the all-inclusive Christ in Colossians, we shall surely receive grace from the Lord....However, no matter how much grace we receive from the Lord, it will leak away if we fail to persevere in prayer. Only prayer can maintain the grace we receive. Only through prayer can this grace become prevailing and living in our experience." Persevere in prayer to walk in wisdom, redeem the time, and have our speech filled with grace and seasoned with salt. "Lord, teach us to pray!"

God desires that Christ be expressed through human life. We see this in [Colossians] 3:18-4:1, a sister passage to Ephesians 5:22-6:9, regarding the believers' ethical relationships. In Ephesians the emphasis is on the need of spirit-filled ethical relationships for the expression of the Body in the normal church life. In Colossians the emphasis is that we should hold Christ as our Head and take Him as our life by having His rich word dwelling in us, that the highest ethical relationships, issuing not from our natural life but from Christ as our life, may be realized for His expression.

If we live in union with Christ, Christ will be expressed through our humanity. Christ is to he expressed in the human life, not in the angelic life. Angels cannot express Christ. The Father has ordained that we, His chosen ones, be the expression of His Son. "Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me," should be our prayer (see Hymns #403).

If we would be those through whom Christ can live, we need to pass through the first two and a half chapters of the book of Colossians. Then, coming to 3:15 and 16, we need to be those in whom the peace of Christ arbitrates and in whom the word of Christ dwells richly. Then Christ will be expressed in our human living.

Many of those in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Catholicism have a low estimate of human life. They do not care for marriage or for the proper family life. They prefer to remain unmarried, and they aspire to live a type of angelic life. But the angelic life cannot express Christ. On the contrary, Christ needs to be expressed in those who are husbands, wives, parents, children, masters, and slaves. In order to express Christ, we need to have a proper and normal human life.

As an elderly person with eight children and more than twenty grandchildren, I can testify that the Lord knows how to choose the best husband or wife for us and what kind of children we should have. He also knows how to break us and make us transparent so that we can express Christ. Through our family life we learn many valuable lessons from the Lord. I believe that the angels are observing to see whether or not we live out Christ in our family life. It is not as difficult to live out Christ in the church as it is to live Him out at home. But how wonderful it is for a brother or sister to express Christ in his or her married life! No brother or sister in the Lord's recovery should aspire to live like a monk or nun. At the right time, the brothers and sisters should marry and then learn through the experiences of married life to express Christ in their human living.

The living of the saints in union with Christ should result in the expression of Christ in human life. If we see this, we shall praise the Lord for our human living. Furthermore, we shall have a fresh appreciation for married life. I can testify that I am thankful for my wife, children, and grandchildren. I am grateful for all the lessons the Lord has taught me through them. The more I advance in years, the more I appreciate the lessons I have learned through the course of my human life. In the relationship between wife and husband and between children and parents we need to live out Christ and express Him....

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