HINDRANCES TO LIVING BY CHRIST

You may feel that for years you have heard of living by Christ. You may have a heart to do so. In fact, you may have tried and tried again to live Him. Yet your efforts have been unsuccessful and you have given up. Why is it that you have not succeeded?

It is because we are buried in a seven-layered tomb! The first layer is the fall of man. The second layer is our natural life. After man was created, he fell; because of the fall, he has his natural life, with its own inclinations and intentions. The third layer, and the thickest, is human culture. To live by the culture into which we were born comes naturally; but to live Christ seems like a strange notion to us. The fourth layer is religion, which also affects all mankind. Whether we are very set in our religion, like the Moslems, or consider ourselves atheists, we nonetheless are religious. The fifth layer is ethics or morality. The concept of morality is imbedded deep in our being. To be pleasant and considerate of others is needed in human society, but in order to live Christ we must be above ethical considerations. The sixth layer of our tomb is our virtues, closely related to ethics. What we esteem as virtues others may not agree with. We may appreciate patience, but others may regard quickness as a virtue. We may like humility, but others may think ambition is desirable. Whatever our virtues, they are a layer of the tomb in which we are buried. The last layer of the tomb is spiritual seeking. To seek holiness, victory, and spirituality can be a layer of the tomb that buries us from the living Christ.

(Life Messages, Vol. 2, chapter 13)