[Day4] The Highest Pursuit-Pursuing Christ, Gaining Christ, Living Christ, Magnifying Christ, Proclaiming Christ, Dispensing Christ
If we want to encourage our children to grow up with the ambition to please God all of their lives, we need to have the highest pursuit, which is to pursue Christ, gain Christ, live Christ and manifest Christ. Why?
First, only Christ the beloved Son of God alone is the delight of God. When the Lord Jesus came up by baptism, and when He changed His image on the Mount of Transfiguration, God the Father spoke twice from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Second, the life of Christ on earth manifesting God is the only life that satisfies and pleases God. Therefore, to please God, one must pursue Christ, win Christ, live Christ, and reveal Christ. Third, Christ is the supreme preciousness of the universe (Phil. 3:8). Fourth, the more we pursue Christ, the more we gain Christ, the more we live Christ; the more we magnify Christ, and then God will be well pleased. This is what we must tell our children, not only to be ambitious to please God, but also to pursue Christ, to win Christ, to live Christ, and to express Christ in order to please God.
Fifth, we are created in God’s own image, which is also in the image of Christ, the beloved Son of God. We are all made as a vessel in the form of Christ, which cannot be filled with anything except Christ. The more we have Christ, the more we are satisfied. Sixth， everyone has an “eternity” in his heart, a sense of purpose planted by God and operating throughout the ages, and only the eternal God, who is Christ, can satisfy this sense. The more we pursue Christ, the more satisfied we will be, and the more meaningful our life will be. Seventh, Christ is love, a divine love, a love that transcends knowledge, a love that is infinite, like the ocean. The more we pursue Christ, the more we are filled with love, the more we love God and love people. Not only our parents, brothers and sisters, friends, but also our enemies and foes.
Not only is the Lord the goal we seek, but we are to follow the example of the saints who came before us. Not only are we to follow their example, but we are also to encourage our children to follow them. We are to give our children positive examples, so that we can establish in them the same ambition, the same heart, and actively become like them. We also need to encourage our children to become Christ-promoting people as well. “I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: Proclaim the word; be ready in season and out of season; convict, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching.” (2 Tim. 4:1-2). Before his martyrdom, Paul instructed his fellow youths to preach the word, whether in time or out of time. We need to encourage our children to become evangelists and seeds of the gospel.
God’s desire is to have a “corporate Christ” (the body of Christ), to manifest Him and represent Him. We are to encourage, help, and enable our children to become builders throughout their lives, to be built up, and to build up one another. We are a pattern for our children. We ourselves are to become good builders and coworkers. The brothers and sisters who came to Russia for the mission were all excellent, Brother Lee asked only one thing: Can they cooperate with others well? Would they be able to work with others? If they could cooperate and know how to cooperate, they could go; otherwise stay. It is useless to have great gifts, great abilities, or to love the Lord, but you must be a person who is able to cooperate and build.
Today, in this crooked，perverted, wicked and adulterous generation, we must educate our children comprehensively and wholeheartedly. Not only in body, soul, and spirit, but also bring them to live the church life – the divine and human community life. In church life, it is good to edify them, fulfill them, and build them up. Moreover, to give them a purpose and direction in life, that they may have an ambition to please God. In addition, we must give them a goal and direction in life, so that they will have an ambition to please God. The life that pleases God is the life of pursuing Christ, winning Christ, living Christ, manifesting Christ. To become the first fruits, and the life of proclaiming Christ, of distributing Christ. To become the seed of the gospel, and the life of partnering with others, of building up the body of Christ. To become a good material for building and partnering.
