As believers in Christ, we have the divine life in us besides the human life – and the divine life in us is a corporate life, a communal life, a life that is NOT individualistic. If we enjoy the divine life, if we grow in the divine life, and if we live out the divine life, we will have a feeling for the Body of Christ, a sense of the Body, and a consciousness of the Body.
And this is so much ingrained in us, so much intrinsically wrought into us, that it becomes our frame of mind.
The frame of mind is our perception of things – and it is very crucial. Just as in the human life – if we have a proper frame of mind, we have a normal human living and a proper attitude towards people and things. If our frame of mind is abnormal, mental illness can come in and we isolate ourselves from other people by the way we think.
We Christians are somewhat “mentally ill” in regard to the matter of the Body of Christ – if we do NOT have an adequate understanding of the Body of Christ, our frame of mind is not proper, and we will not be able to have the common recognition of the Body of Christ.
We need to have a vision of the Body of Christ, a sense of the Body, and a consciousness of the Body – as believers in Christ, we are members of the Body together with the other believers in Christ!
We serve IN THE BODY, we preach the gospel IN THE BODY, we take care of the new ones IN THE BODY, and we do everything FOR THE BODY and IN THE BODY(Eph. 4:22-24). Praise the Lord, we serve as members of the Body in an organic way, and we are all attached to the Body to receive the life supply in the Body and to coordinate and function together!
The sense of the Body is very mysterious – it is within us, longing to spread and increase, but because we are often shut in ourselves, we don’t allow it to increase! The Spirit within us is universal – the life within us is universal – the sense within us is universal – the supply of life is universal.
Don’t despise the divine life you received – this life with the sense of life is a great matter. If we allow the sense of the Body to increase in us, it will become a universal sense. Of course, since we all are very much concerned mainly about ourselves, our situation, our church life, or maybe even our locality or our country – the Lord needs to BREAK THROUGH in us!
“Gradually, according to the lessons we learn, the more we are broken, the more this sense will increase so that we can begin to care for others, for the church, and for the Lord’s work. The more we experience the Lord’s breaking, learning the deeper lessons and being delivered from ourselves, the more we will discover that this sense is universal.” (The Church as the Body of Christ, bro. W. Lee).
We don’t need to ask for more breaking from the Lord – He is faithful to do it in us; all we need is to be open to Him for His work of increasing the sense of the Body in us. He wants us to have a proper frame of mind as believers – the frame of mind of being a member in the Body of Christ!
[sharing inspired from, The Oneness and the One Accord according to the Lord’s Aspiration and the Body Life and Service according to His Pleasure(by Witness Lee) – as quoted in the HWMR on The Central Line of the Bible]
Lord, increase the consciousness of the Body in us! Save us from being “mentally ill” in any respect! May the sense of the Body increase and spread until it becomes an universal sense! Save us from remaining individualistic and concerned only with our own things! Lord Jesus – have mercy on us! Break through in us! Grant us the proper frame of mind as members of the Body and as normal God-men, Your believers!
