Hold the Head and Grow by having Christ Added to us for the Building up of the Body

As believers in Christ, we need to hold the Head, Christ, out of whom all the Body is richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, growing with the growth of God; we’re rooted in Christ to absorb His riches and grow in life, and our growth is the building up of the Body. Amen!

There is a great need among us, the believers in Christ who love the Lord and pursue Him to enjoy Him, that we would give the Lord the preeminence and enjoy Him as our life and our everything.

Our Christ is all-inclusive, and to God He is everything; He is the centrality and universality of God’s economy, the only One who delights the Father, and the One who builds up the church for God to have a corporate expression on the earth.

But to us, Christ may not be that much. In our daily experience, in our daily living with all its daily activities, do we take Christ as our center and as our everything?

Do we open to Him and enjoy Him day by day, even moment by moment?

Or are there many other things, even good and scriptural things, that replace Christ as the preeminent One in us?

There may be many practices, methods, and things that are quite good, ethical, moral, and even scriptural, but they are not Christ; we may focus on so many things apart from Christ. Oh, Lord Jesus!

Before we were saved, we lived without Christ; after we are saved, we may build a certain kind of life or way of living that is ethical, moral, and even scriptural, but it may be devoid of Christ.

We need to come to the Lord again and again concerning our being and our daily living.

We do not want to miss Christ. He is the center of God’s economy, and He is everything that God gives to us for our enjoyment so that we may fulfill His purpose.

In Christ all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden, and He is everything to us.

And we are joined to Him organically; we are one spirit with the Lord, and in this organic union with Him, He is everything to us.

Day by day we can contact the Lord and open to Him about many things, asking Him to keep us in the organic union with Him so that we may enjoy all His riches.

We were raised together with Christ, and we are now learning to set our mind on the things which are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Our Christ is seated with God in the heavenlies, and when we turn to our spirit by calling on His name and praying to fellowship with Him, we are in God and God is in us.

Wow, God in the heavens is becoming the sphere of our living, and with Christ, we live in God! Praise the Lord!

Such a living, however, is not individual; the Christ we enjoy is not an individual Christ, a Christ that is our portion for us to live our Christian life and that’s it.

He is the Head of the Body, and we hold the Head, Christ, to receive the supply and be built up together with the saints.

Being Rooted and being Built up in Christ by Holding the Head to Grow with the Growth of God

Col. 2:19 speaks of holding the Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.

What does it mean for us to hold the Head? It means that we are not separated or insulated from the Lord by anything or anyone else.

When we live by our culture instead of living by Christ, we separate ourselves from Christ as the Head, and we do not enjoy what comes out of Him for our supply.

Col. 2:7 speaks of having been rooted and being built up in Him; on one hand, we’re rooted in Christ, and on the other hand, we hold the Head, Christ.

We have been rooted in Christ to absorb all the riches of this all-inclusive One.

As we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord and remain in fellowship with Him and with the saints, we experience being rooted in Christ, and we absorb the riches of Christ into our being.

This results in our growing with the growth of God.

We grow with the growth of God by holding Christ as the Head.

Amen, we hold the Head, Christ, by being rooted in Christ to absorb the riches of the all-inclusive Christ.

If you hold the Head and I hold the Head, if we all hold the Head, we are built together, supplied, and knit together, and the Body grows with the growth of God.

Out of Him, Christ, there’s a supply coming into us as we are holding the Head, and this supply causes us to grow in life, which growth is the building up of the Body of Christ.

What an amazing process we’re in: we’re rooted in Christ to absorb His riches, and we do this by holding the Head, Christ, to be built up in Christ and grow with the growth of God!

In a sense, Christ is the soil into whom we’re rooted; in this respect, we send our roots deep down into Him to absorb all His riches, and as we enjoy Him, we grow in life and we walk in Christ.

In another sense, we hold Christ as the Head, and we receive the supply from the Head to grow in life, and our growth in life is the building up of the Body of Christ.

As we absorb the riches of Christ as the soil, we hold the Head.

As we receive the supply from the Head by holding the Head, we absorb the riches from the all-inclusive Christ as the rich soil into whom we’re rooted.

The result is that we grow with the increase that comes from the riches we absorb from Christ, and this growth is the growth of God, the building up of the Body of Christ.

A plant grows by absorbing the rich nutrients from the soil, and the growth of the plant is its building up.

The more a plant grows, the more it builds itself up; the trees, for example, send their roots deep down into the soil to absorb the nourishment from the soil and grow.

There’s an organic activity going on in the tree to absorb the nutrients from the soil and grow upward.

Similarly, we as believers in Christ are rooted in Christ, and we are being built up in Him.

On one hand, we’re rooted in Christ and we absorb the riches of Christ by having a rich enjoyment of the Lord in His word and in the fellowship with the saints.

On the other hand, the riches of Christ deposited into our being become our growth, which is our building up.

The more we eat the Lord, drink the Lord, and absorb Him into our inner spiritual being, the more we grow in life, and our growth in life is our building up.

We’re rooted in Christ to absorb His riches, and our growth in life is the building; if we don’t grow, we can’t have the building.

May we daily enjoy the Lord, absorb His riches, and have a rich enjoyment of Christ in His word and with the saints, so that we may grow in life.

This is our holding the Head, Christ, and our receiving from Him the rich supply that causes us to grow in life and be built up together in the Body.

Brothers and sisters in the Lord, having been rooted in Christ, we are now being built up in Him by absorbing Him, receiving and digesting His riches, and growing in life, so that we may build up ourselves in Christ and be built up together in the Body!

May we be those who day by day send our roots deep down into Christ as the rich soil to absorb His riches; this is to hold the Head, Christ, to receive the rich supply from Him for us to grow in life and be built up in the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, we want to hold You as the Head to receive the rich supply coming out of You for us to grow in life and be built up in the Body of Christ. Hallelujah, we have been rooted in Christ and we are being built up in Him. Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to absorb the riches of Christ and grow with the growth of God. We come to You in Your word, Lord, to be richly supplied with what You are. Grow in us. Fill us with Yourself. Give us the growth in life. Add more of Yourself into our being. May we be infused with Your elements and may we grow in life and be built up together. Amen, Lord, we open to You. Keep us holding the Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God. Grow in us, Lord Jesus. Build us up together in the Body!

Hold the Head and Grow by having Christ Added to us for the Building up of the Body

To grow in life or to grow into Christ is to have Christ added to us (1 Cor. 3:6-7; Gal. 4:19).

For us to grow in the human life is for us to increase and grow in life, even to grow in stature.

For us to grow in the divine life is for us to have Christ added to us.

This is why our daily life means a lot.

Regardless of the stage of life we are in, regardless of what we are doing during the day, every day is an opportunity for us to have Christ added to us.

We may be at home taking care of the children or we may be out and about taking care of chores and responsibility, but in all these things, we can hold the Head to have more Christ added to us.

We may be exhausted from a sleepless night with our little baby or we may be very tired at the end of the workday, but in the midst of all this, we can turn to the Lord and ask Him to add Himself to us.

He is waiting for us to just turn to Him and have an opening toward Him.

Our life has meaning because Christ is added to us.

God gives the growth; we cannot cause the growth, but we can come to the Lord and touch Him again and again, and He will give us the growth.

The growth of the Body of Christ depends on what comes out of Christ as the Head (Eph. 4:15-16).

If we remain distant or separated from Christ as the Head, if there’s an insulation between us and Christ, it is hard to receive and know what comes out of Christ.

If we do not deal with our sins and with anything that would hinder the flow of life from Christ into us, we will not receive the constant dispensing of the divine life.

Our growth in life depends on Christ, on what He dispenses into us.

When the Body is supplied by holding the Head, the Body grows with the growth of God (Col. 2:19).

Holding the Head, Christ, is to enjoy Him, honour Him, revere Him, and exalt Him; we give Him the first place, for He is everything to us. He is the all-inclusive One, and we enjoy Him.

When we enjoy Christ, we hold the Head. When we honour Christ, we hold the Head, and out from Him something comes out to be added to us to cause us to grow in life.

As we hold the Head, Christ, the Body grows with the growth of God. Christ in Himself does not need to grow, but He needs to grow in us.

And this takes place not just on Sunday morning or twice a week, when we meet with the saints; our daily living is the greatest part of our growth in life.

What happens in our daily life means a lot as far as the Body of Christ is concerned.

Our relationship with the Lord is a Body matter, for when we hold Christ, the Head, we are connected to Him and to the Body.

How we spend our day, the profit or lack of profit for the Lord during the day, means a lot from the standpoint of the Body.

Our personal situation is important as far as the life of the Body is concerned, for the more we gain of Christ, the more the Body gains of Christ.

If we grow in life by holding the Head, the Body grows with the growth of God.

The Body of Christ grows out from the Head, for all the supply comes from the Head (Eph. 4:15).

May we keep holding Christ, the Head, to receive the rich supply coming out of Him so that we may grow in life with the growth of God for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, keep us open to You throughout the day. We want to hold the Head, Christ, so that we may receive the rich supply coming from the Head and grow in life with the growth of God. Amen, Lord Jesus, add Yourself to us. Keep growing in us. Gain an opening in our being. Cause the growth in us. May we remain connected to You and have no insulation between us and You in our daily living. Amen, Lord, keep us open to Your divine dispensing! We honor You as the Head. We revere You, we exalt You, and we give You the first place. You are everything to us. May we realize that our relationship with Christ is a Body matter. Amen, Lord, what about our daily living? Keep us contacting You so that we may gain You. Keep us holding the Head, Christ, so that we may receive what comes out from the Head and may grow with the growth of God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ray Mulligan in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 44 and 51, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Enjoyment of Christ and our Growth in Life unto Maturity (2023 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 4, entitled, Knowing the All-inclusive Christ and Growing with the Growth of God.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Our growth in life by the growth of God in us, a portion from, The Experience and Growth in Life, Chapter 27, by Witness Lee.
  – New Jerusalem is Built by the Growth of Christ in Us, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – What Is Spiritual Growth? More via, Bibles for Europe blog.
  – Holding to Truth, via, Holding to truth in love.
  – Christ as the seed of life sown into us to grow within us for God’s building, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Recommending the Life-study of Colossians radio broadcasts via, LSM radio.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – In my knowledge and experience / I would not exalted be, / But submitting and accepting / Let the Body balance me; / Holding fast the Head, and growing / With His increase, in His way, / By the joints and bands supplying, / Knit together day by day. (Hymns #840 stanza 3)
  – ’Tis by serving in the Body / Riches of the Head we share; / ’Tis by functioning as members / Christ’s full measure we will bear. / To the Head fast holding ever, / That we may together grow, / From the Head supplies incoming / Thru us to the Body flow. (Hymns #913 stanzas 6-7)
  – For this cause we pray the Father God— / Strengthen Thou with might our inner man; / Make Yourself at home in all our hearts, / Root us, ground us in Your love and for Your plan. / In the Body we’ll be fitly framed / As the many members Christ supply; / Working in the measure of each part, / All by growth in love the Body edify. (Hymns #1232 stanzas 4-5)